Flashover
by LizzeXX
Summary: Arthur/OC - As a fire that dies down yet suddenly springs to life once more, so must life do the same. The time has come for the Once and Future King to walk the Earth once more with his family, friends, and love at his side. Follow Camelot's Archmage, High Priestess, Seer, and King as their stories play out in modern times. Modern-Reincarnation Sequel to the Draconian Prophecies.
1. Valiant Effort

A/N: Hello, hello! Welcome to the Modern-Reincarnation sequel story, Flashover, of my Merlin Series the Draconian Prophecies :) Even though this is a modern retelling of my original series, I would recommend new readers first read that series, (Sparks, Flames, Burning, Blazing, and Embers), to really enjoy seeing some of the parallels and twists from the first story to this one :)

This story should be about 115 chapters long and updated every Wednesday. This is also going to be an Arthur/OC (Merlin/Morgana, Gwen/Lancelot) story ;)

~8~ is a scene break.

Disclaimer: I do not own Merlin...or we would have seen a sequel to the show too ;)

~8~

Valiant Effort

 _Beepbeepbeep…Beepbeepbeep…Beepbeepbeep…_

The noise of a shrill alarm blared through the small, dark bedroom only to be followed by a deep grunt that held a touch of a groan to it before, from beneath a pile of blankets, a head with a mop of black hair emerged to peer at the blinking alarm before flopping back down beneath the pillow.

…only for the body attached to said head to practically leap out of the bed.

"8:05!" a deep, masculine voice cried as the young man it belonged to gaped at the clock for one moment, rushing to it and grabbing it, "No, no, no, no…it's not, it can't be!" he shook the alarm, trying to turn it off in the haze of sleep that had abruptly left him, succeeding on his fifth attempt, only one attempt before he was about to throw it at the wall to silence it, "Damn it!"

He turned quickly, rushing for the small closet…and promptly tripped over a pile of clothing on the carpet. He fell with a hard oomph, before leaping up and scrambling to the closet, grabbing the first pieces of clothing he could reach and dashing to the even tinier bathroom just outside his room.

He was late!

He was SO late!

He was going to be fired, he was sure of it. This time his boss, Arthur, was really going to fire him…or kill him, to be fair though the killing would probably be the best option though. No one that was fired from Pendragon Security survived for long, no one that was fired left without a black mark on their record, making it nearly impossible to be hired anywhere else that paid a decent wage. Ooh he really needed to get to work and get there quickly.

...which did explain how he ended up grimacing when his stomach growled for the third time in five minutes around lunch only hours later. He'd flown out of his uncle's small flat so quickly that he'd left his small bagged lunch in the refrigerator and he hadn't had the time during the day to go back and get it. He was _starving_! But he also hadn't had time to actually do much, not even stop by the small cafeteria of the building the company was based in, affectionately called 'Camelot' by those that worked there, which was just about everyone save the actual CEO and his son. Arthur Pendragon, his boss, the owner's son, was always irritated when people called it Camelot, but then again he was equally irritated by his own name. He'd been named for the king of legend, which did explain the man's massive ego and arrogance and…

"Are YOU the one making that ungodly noise, Merlin?"

Merlin closed his eyes, speak of the devil, he really should stop even thinking Arthur's name in his head, the man had an unparalleled habit of showing up whenever it seemed like he was even on the verge of being thought of or mentioned. He bit back a groan and turned around to see his boss walking towards him, dressed more casually than normal in a pair of black trousers and a red button-up long sleeved shirt, why the man bothered with long sleeves when he constantly rolled and pushed them up was beyond him.

"No, sir," Merlin shook his head, "Wasn't me. No idea what that could have been."

And, of course, as his luck would have it, his stomach grumbled yet again, deflating him slightly as Arthur smirked.

"Care to try that again?" Arthur gave him a look.

Merlin sighed, "I ran out without breakfast," he offered lamely, "Forgot my lunch."

"Why not just go get some then?"

This time it was Merlin's turn to give HIM a look, "I was running round after YOU, in case you forgot," he huffed, "I didn't have time."

"That IS your job," Arthur brushed off, "Unless you're tired of it and want to find a new one."

"No," Merlin sighed.

This was what he got for being Arthur Pendragon's personal assistant. Abuse. Degradation. Humiliation. And that was on a good day.

"Well," Arthur shrugged, "I would have agreed to let you go get something to eat, had you told me earlier," he smirked when Merlin's hopeful expression fell, "But I need you to run up to my office and prepare my notes for the demonstration later."

Merlin blinked, "I can't just go get a quick…"

"No, sorry," Arthur cut in, not sounding sorry at all, "I need these notes as soon as possible."

Merlin winced as his stomach growled once more, he really _was_ hungry, he hadn't had much of a dinner last night either, had been so tired he'd made a cup of soup and gone to bed halfway through. But it didn't look like he was going to be getting anything filling now either. He was just about to open his mouth with a resigned 'yes sir' when a commotion sounded behind them.

They looked over towards the entrance of the building, the sounds of the metal detectors stationed at the doors going off, only to see a young woman grabbing a microwavable soup out of a security guard's hand with a glare, clearly being the thing that had set off the detectors, before she shoved it into the brown bag in her hand and turned to them.

The second she spotted them standing there she beamed, "Merlin!" she cheered, rushing over to the man and throwing her arms around him, half leaping at him to hug him tight.

Arthur blinked at that, giving the girl in Merlin's arms an odd look, "Merlin, social visits are not for work hours," he told the boy with an exasperated air, "At least wait till your break to tend to your business with your girlfriend."

"Girlfriend?" the girl in question scoffed, pulling herself away from Merlin to face him.

Arthur took a single moment to assess her, eyeing her up and down quickly. She wasn't anything spectacular, average height, a bit pale, black wavy hair held back in a messy ponytail, gangly and thin though. She had blue eyes, familiar eyes but he couldn't place where he'd seen them before, and a rather small mouth. She seemed to have taken to what all the other girls those days were wearing, leggings, black ones, with dark brown boots that laced up to her shins, and what seemed to be a lavender tunic with a deep V-neck, ¾ length sleeves that went mid thigh…not that he was looking at how long the dress was, no that wasn't proper.

"Right," the girl scoffed, giving him a look that said she thought he was clearly an idiot, "I'm his girlfriend? Well don't let our pastor know that then, he'd die of a heart attack, incest happening right under his nose!" she put her hand to her chest in mock shock.

"What?" Arthur shook his head, not following.

Merlin rolled his eyes, not expecting him to, "Arthur, this is my sister, Maria Emrys."

"Pleasure," Maria reached out to shake his hand, though Arthur seemed startled.

"Sister?" he stared at Maria a moment, "You…never said you had a sister, Merlin."

"You never asked," Merlin shrugged, grinning, rather enjoying seeing Arthur off balance.

Really though, how Arthur missed that they were siblings was beyond him, they had the same hair, same eyes, their mother swore they had the same smile.

"Trying to protect my virtue from a lecherous boss, brother dear?" Maria teased, taking full advantage of Arthur's apparent shock, "Let me return the favor, with lunch," she held up the brown bag.

"Oh thank you," Merlin beamed, taking the bag and peering inside, "Hold on, this is my lunch."

"As I said," Maria nodded.

"No, I mean this is MY lunch," he looked at her, "I made it yesterday and left it in my fridge…how…"

"I DID tell you I was coming to stay for a while," she reminded him.

"Yeah, but on Wednesday."

"It IS Wednesday, Merlin."

Merlin blinked, before quickly looking at the watch around his wrist, tapping it in frustration as the digital screen refused to light up a moment, "So it is."

"And you're in charge of my schedule?" Arthur scoffed, "Please tell me I haven't missed any appointments, Merlin."

Maria frowned at that for some reason, giving Merlin a questioning look but he ignored it to turn to his boss, "No, sir, no missed meetings."

"Good," Arthur nodded, before giving Merlin a look as though expecting something, only for Merlin to remain standing there, "My notes Merlin?" he sighed, "You may have scraped by without missing any meetings, but I did ask for those notes."

"Right," Merlin winced, "I'll um…I'll just go get those," he glanced at his sister, "Can she come?"

"Just…keep her out of trouble," Arthur waved them off.

Merlin grinned widely at that, putting an arm around his sister's shoulders and led her off towards the lifts, the two of them glancing back once they'd reached it to see Arthur watching them go with a curious look on his face before he shook his head and continued on to the main desk to speak to one of the girls working behind it, a girl with long brown hair and a round face that had him leaning over and smiling flirtatiously.

"You work for _him_?" Maria glanced at her brother as they got in the lift, the only two people in it.

Merlin sighed, "Sadly."

"HOW did that happen?" she shook her head, "You said you were coming here to assist Uncle Gus?"

Their uncle was the company's on-site physician.

Camelot, or Pendragon Security as it was officially known, was a very diverse security firm based in Albion, England. They dealt with all manners of protection for their clients, from training bodyguards and attack dogs to creating computer firewalls, from developing home-security systems to designing weapons for law enforcement, they even dabbled in probability technology to try to estimate future damages or worst-case scenarios as well as starting to branch out into different types of drugs though that was in the beginning stages. If you wanted to be safe, you came to Camelot for help.

Due to the training of the bodyguards, the company had hired on a doctor to tend to any wounds or mishaps that might have come from that, there was a small infirmary set up on one of the lower floors, nearer to the training site, where their uncle was stationed.

Merlin nodded at that, it was how he'd first come to Camelot. He'd wanted a job, a more permanent and secure one than the little odds and ends he used to do around their home town of Ealdor. He hadn't gone on to university, not really feeling a need for it or a desire, not having a particular interest that he loved so much that he wanted to make a career out of it. He was still trying to find himself and what he wanted to do with his life, their uncle had offered to let him come by and see what it would entail to be a physician's assistant if he were to decide to go to school for that.

He'd been there all of one day before he'd gotten into a scuffle with Arthur Pendragon himself. He'd stumbled onto the training site, Gus had wanted to speak to one of the bodyguards-in-training about a prior injury to do a routine checkup and sent him to collect. He'd come in on them more ganging up on one of the newer recruits and had tried to get them to stop…and nearly gotten beaten into a pulp by Arthur himself. Ended up in the infirmary instead with a bruised cheek and bloodied nose, almost got kicked out of the facility for good measure but he'd managed to stick around.

"I was," Merlin agreed, "I was in the wrong place at the right time and things…happened."

"Happened how?" Maria gave him a narrow eyed look, "Wrong place?"

He glanced at her for that, knowing that she meant something much more than just how it was the wrong place, "I may have… _dabbled_ a bit," he offered, giving a pointed glance at the security camera in the corner of the lift.

Maria's gaze followed him to it and back, nodding slightly, understanding exactly what he meant by 'dabbled.'

"I found out that one of the new clients that was coming here to review a deal with Mr. Pendragon was an imposter," he shrugged, "She tried to set off a knockout gas and go after Mr. Pendragon, but I managed to knock one of the cubical walls over onto her, knocked her out and got the vents turned on to stop the gas affecting everyone. Got promoted for it."

"To what, Arthur's assistant?"

"Unfortunately."

"How's that fair?" Maria shook her head, "You come here to look into medicine and end up someone's…manservant instead?"

"Believe me, I know," Merlin muttered as the doors to the lift opened on the top floor, allowing them out and into a very wide office area. There were only three offices there, Mr. Pendragon's, the owner and creator of the company right at the end, Arthur's as the almost-co-owner to the right, and Arthur's adoptive sister, Morgan, her office too was on the left, she was in charge of the probability department, had actually been the one to talk Mr. Pendragon into investing in the tech in the first place.

"Come on," he nodded, "It's this way," he turned to the right, heading for the door to Arthur's office.

Just inside the door was a small wooden desk, Merlin's, with a computer resting on it, set up with a keyboard and printer, a phone beside it, scanner, the works really. The office was large, from what Maria could see. There was a water cooler a few feet away, a fax machine, copier, filing cabinet, a large corkboard with notes on it, stacks of paper everywhere, rubbish pail. The part of the office that was Merlin's was a bit smaller than what she could see of Arthur's. There was a set of armchairs lining the wall, a small table with them, and a door set into the wall just beside them that said 'staff only'. The wall cut off after that, the solid wood of it being replaced with glass that allowed a look into Arthur's office. It was enormous, a much larger desk than Merlin's was in there, more sleek and upscale, he had a large spinning chair with a high back, large windows set into the wall to give a view of the outside, letting light in. There was a bookshelf, chairs, a larger table for meetings, his own phone, and a name plate, of course.

"Merlin…" she breathed, just staring around at the size of the room. Merlin's office, while smaller than Arthur's, was larger than their uncle's entire flat.

"I know," he smiled a bit, "Arthur's a right pain in the arse, but the perks are pretty good," he moved over to the glass door to Arthur's office, "Can you get that set up while I get Arthur's bloody notes?" he nodded at the bag that she'd taken back from him, "There's a small refrigerator and microwave through there," he nodded to the 'staff only' door.

"Ooh but what if you get in trouble with the bossman letting me in there," Maria teased, though she was heading for it anyway, "Are there alarms going to go off if a non-staff enters?"

"Shut up," Merlin shook his head at her, laughing as he entered Arthur's office, letting his sister get his lunch set up for him while he made his way to Arthur's computer. He logged in easily enough, he really needed to talk to Arthur about changing his password from 'SonoftheDragon' which was just what his last name meant, and into something no one would think to use for his computer.

Like 'AbominableClotpole' or something like that.

He sighed though when he saw all the windows the man had opened. For being second in charge of the entire corporation, he was so cluttered on his computer, with so many internet searches and documents and other things open it was a wonder he hadn't been hacked into yet. Well, he supposed it was Camelot's thing, Arthur had the latest software and firewalls from their Computer Protection department on his computers. He would think his files were safe.

If only he knew.

He looked up when the door opened, to see his sister pushing it back with her bum, a plate of a sandwich in one hand, the soup in the other, and a bottle of water tucked under her arm, what looked like a baggie of biscuits tucked under the other.

"Well there goes my appetite," he joked, snagging the biscuits from her first.

"You'll eat them and like them," she mock-threatened, rolling her eyes at him, setting the food down and moving around the desk to rest against the chair, leaning over to see what he was doing, "Those are the notes?"

Merlin took a big bite of the sandwich and nodded, "Es gotdematen."

Maria blinked, "He's got a Dalmatian?"

Merlin laughed, "No," he swallowed, "He's got a demonstration later, he needs the notes."

"Those aren't notes," she shook her head, "Those are pictures."

"Yeah, they're what HE calls notes," Merlin corrected, "He's giving a demonstration for a self-defense class later, it's the first in a 4-day program. First is self-defense, then they bring in volunteers from the clients to let them try it. Next is offense, and the same thing, letting the clients try. They pair up a potential client against one of the Knights, er, the bodyguards," he offered, having thought of the little joke for the bodyguards and the ones in training, since it was Camelot they referred to themselves as the 'knights,' "He needs visual aids apparently. Company policy," he shrugged, "Needs me to print them out to be handed around. It's like a small advert to gain more clientele."

"Right," Maria nodded, "So, after you've gotten him his notes and the demonstration starts, you can leave then?"

Merlin winced, though whether it was from how hot the soup he'd been sipping was or because of her words she didn't know, "Yeah…that's the thing…I have to be there."

"Why?"

"I'm sort of…a part of it?"

She raised an eyebrow at that, "You're not exactly a posterboy for self-defense."

"I know," he sighed, "I'm the one they're demonstrating on."

She snorted, "And people really think THAT will help make them feel safer? It's not like you're all that threatening. No offense Merlin, but I could take you out when we wrestle."

"Yeah, I know, I told Arthur that, well," he took a bite of the soup, "Not told him THAT, but I told him I wasn't a good fit."

"And?"

"He doesn't care."

"So you're stuck?"

"Yep."

She let out a breath, "Well is there anyone you can ask for help to prepare so you're not completely hopeless against Arthur? Maybe give him a bit of a fight, even a little?"

Merlin was silent a moment before he smiled, "I think I may know someone…"

~8~

"Oomph!" Merlin grunted as he was thrown onto the ground, winded.

"Sorry!" a kind voice called as a young, lovely, black woman peered down at him, her hair held back in a tight ponytail, "But you're getting much better Merlin," she held out a hand to help him up.

"Thanks Gwen," he muttered, rubbing his back.

"Really," Maria called, having been watching from the side of one of the smaller training rooms, reserved for clients to be taught one on one instead of as a group, "Thank you."

Gwen, who had been introduced to her as Morgan's assistant/secretary, smiled at her, "It's no problem at all. Arthur could do with being taken down a peg or two. I mean!" her eyes widened, "I mean, he's…he's very skilled and he's worked hard for that skill but…"

"He's got an over inflated head?" Maria guessed.

"At times."

"At always," Merlin grumbled, trying to stretch and wincing, "I think that's all my body can take for the day, Gwen," he told her.

She'd been showing him basics, how to stop someone attacking from the front, and had only just gotten to showing him how to flip someone over her shoulder if they attacked from behind…which had landed him on his backside…but it was really all they had time for. He'd scarfed down the rest of his lunch in order to hurry out and find Gwen, knowing she'd been trained a bit at Morgan's insistence and would be the one most likely to treat him kindly while teaching. But he would have to leave soon before Arthur came looking for him. He could always claim that the computer had frozen and he'd had to restart it and that was why he hadn't been able to print out the demonstration pamphlets till now.

Which, actually, wasn't all that far from the truth or that odd an occurrence. Technology hated him, he was sure of it. Computers froze whenever he used them, printers jammed, fax machines went busy, the internet froze, his phone went staticed, his watch stopped. He really had the worst luck with it, which was probably why it was so ironic he worked in a place that relied heavily on tech and computers and phones and things. The only comfort was that his sister was just as unlucky with technology as he was, something that had caused her an enormous amount of stress when she'd been away at school the last while.

She'd gone to live with their Aunt, a professor of the social sciences, and had enrolled there for a minor degree in history. She'd only just completed it and had asked if she could stay with him till she found a place to work and a flat of her own. He'd said of course! She was his sister! But really it was their uncle's flat and he was overjoyed to have both his niece and nephew with him, he hadn't seen his niece in…years now that Merlin thought about it, more than a decade really.

"I understand," Gwen nodded, "I should be getting back to Morgan as well, she should be off her lunch break soon and she'll want to have the reports for the department on her desk when she gets back. It was really nice to meet you Maria."

"You can call me Ria, Gwen," Maria smiled, "Most people end up shortening my name even more anyway."

Gwen nodded and gave them a small wave, heading for the door, leaving Merlin to sigh, "Come on," he mumbled, "Time to face Arthur."

~8~

"Really?" Maria gave Arthur an unimpressed look as he stood before Merlin, the boy strapping small protective padding to him, not much, but enough for the prospective clients to realize that they were serious about protection and teaching, mostly around the knees, elbows, hands, with a safety padded helmet on their heads, "You can't put that on yourself?"

"Personal assistants assist," Arthur rolled his eyes, "It's in their job description."

"This isn't assisting, this is doing it for you."

Arthur ignored her.

Merlin had to smile at his sister's efforts, she was very big on people doing things for themselves when they could, he understood helping Arthur with his gloves, but everything else WAS excessive, "Are you nervous?" he asked casually.

Arthur scoffed, "I don't get nervous," he glared over at Maria as she snorted, "What?"

"Nothing," she held up her hands at him, smirking, "It's just impossible not to get nervous over something."

"I don't believe this is anything for you to comment on!" Arthur muttered under his breath, turning away from her, though he could see her smirking out of the corner of his eye, as though he'd revealed he was a bit nervous despite what he said.

"There we go," Merlin smiled, stepping back, "All set."

"I think you're forgetting something Merlin," Arthur gave him a look, but Merlin just looked confused, "The papers?"

"Oh!" Merlin nodded, hurrying to a small messenger bag of his and pulling a folder out with the papers in them, handing them over, "There you go."

"Right," Arthur sighed, "Now, you get ready for the demonstration, it starts in 2 minutes."

Merlin blinked at that, having hoped Arthur would have forgotten that little detail, "And he walks off without helping YOU get ready?" Maria shook her head.

"That's Arthur for you," he muttered as Arthur moved to the crowd, handing out the papers.

"Come here," Maria moved over to the padding storage area along the wall and tried to strap her brother up as best she could.

As much as she usually enjoyed watching demonstrations like this, fascinated with how a human could stop someone twice as big as them with half the force, she was quite sure she was not going to enjoy seeing her brother involved in it.

~8~

And how right she had been.

With every blow, no matter how gentle or 'slow' they had been as the men demonstrated defense moves on her brother, she winced. She was sure he was going to be sore tomorrow and she could only hope that Arthur would give him time off to recuperate.

The second the demonstration was over, the moment Merlin hobbled off the padded platform that had been set up, she was at his side, helping him walk with more ease.

"So what did you think Mia?" he wheezed.

Maria smiled a bit at the name. It really was quite funny, their names, how they both felt about them and what they called each other. Merlin had hated his name, always said it didn't fit, so he'd merged his first and middle name together, become 'Merlin,' which was even more funny given he worked in 'Camelot' to an 'Arthur Pendragon,' the irony was not lost on either of them. Her name, on the other hand, it was ordinary, plain, just Maria…except for the fact that, when Merlin had been young, he couldn't properly pronounce it for some reason, the R sound escaped him and she had been 'Mah-ee-yah' till it blended into Mia over time. He'd never grown out of that and she'd never told him to stop, it was his own special name for her and no one but her brother could call her it. Most of her friends called her Ria though, her full name, despite how short it was, always made her feel like she was being scolded by her mother to hear.

"It was interesting," she admitted, "Though I'd have found it more entertaining if it hadn't been my brother getting pummeled."

"Merlin!" Arthur called, walking over to them, clapping Merlin on the back, making him wince, "You did a good job."

"Did I?" Merlin sucked in a deep breath, "I couldn't tell…"

"Well you're still standing," Arthur shrugged, "You're the first that hasn't fallen down after a demonstration."

"Brilliant," he muttered.

"Mr. Pendragon," one of the men from the crowd came over to them, reaching out to shake his hand, "Marcus Valiant," he introduced, "That was a wonderful demonstration," he glanced over at Merlin and Maria, "Will we be seeing one for the women tomorrow?"

Maria frowned, narrowing her eyes at how the man was eyeing her up and down.

"All defensive maneuvers taught by Pendragon Security have been designed and created with both males and females in mind," Arthur started.

"Very good," the man nodded, pulling his gaze away from Maria, "I do hope we'll be allowed to try our hand with some maneuvers against the trainers soon?"

"Yes. It's our policy to demonstrate first, then allow those who have observed to replicate our teachings."

"I look forward to it," he gave them a nod and turned to go.

"Creep," Maria muttered, earning a nod from Merlin.

Arthur glanced at the two, seeing Merlin glaring at the man as he departed, and sighed, that would not be good business for his assistant to be glaring his clients off, "Merlin," he called, snapping the boy's attention back, "For tomorrow…"

"You can't be serious," Maria shook her head, "You're going to have him come into work tomorrow? He can barely stand!"

"But he IS standing, and it IS his job," Arthur remarked, waving it off, "I'm going to need more pamphlets geared for Day 2, and I'd like you to clear my schedule for lunch, for two hours, and book a reservation at that new restaurant down the street for this Saturday around 7pm, and make sure that the cleaning crew go through this room, it's starting to reek of sweat."

Merlin sighed, "Yes sir."

"Oh, and don't forget to transfer my data to my backup hard drive," Arthur added, "You know where the keys to my office are, be a dear and lock up before you go. Don't mind the cleaning crew if they pop in before you're finished."

Merlin groaned at that, knowing it meant that Arthur expected him to be in the office till the god awful hours of the night backing up his system, "Yes sir."

Maria just glared as Arthur smirked and walked off.

~8~

Maria smiled as she set down a steaming cup of tea before Merlin at the small kitchen table of their uncle's flat, an old laptop open before him, "You, brother dear, are a genius."

He smiled at that, taking a grateful sip of tea and sighing in delight, "Thank you. You know, I don't get told that nearly enough."

"You should," she moved a chair beside him and sat down, watching the numbers and letters flash across the screen, "This is brilliant," she pointed at something, "Automated transfer?"

He nodded, "Skips anything that hasn't been updated recently and only tracks the new documents."

Maria let out a whistle, "And how long did it take you to hack into Arthur's system? What with the company being the 'leading authority in technological security,'" she mimicked their motto.

"3 minutes."

Maria held up a hand to him, high-fiving him as she shook her head, "They really should hire people like us if they want to really be safe."

Merlin nodded though, to be fair, the only reason he'd gotten into Arthur and Pendragon Security's systems so easily was that he'd been inside the building and made a little loophole through the systems from his computer in Arthur's office. It was like a doorway that only he could get through. On a normal day, it could take him...hours, perhaps even a day to really effectively hack into a system like Camelot's. They really were striving to make their software impossible to hack and it took quite a bit of skill to manage to break through.

"Safe from what?" a voice called as the door opened.

"Uncle Gus!" Maria smiled, jumping up and running to hug him tightly, laughing at how she was taller than him now though tears came to her eyes as she saw how old he'd gotten since the last time she'd seen him.

He was a little old man now. Bald on the top of his head but with thick white hair around the sides, small black glasses perched on the tip of his nose, wearing a simple grey sweater and dark grey trousers, a bit hunched but that was to be expected. His one eye was a bit more shut than the other, a result of a minor stroke he'd suffered a few years back but had recovered well from since then.

"I…er…" Gus blinked, started by the sudden hug, but gave as good as he got, pulling away slightly before blinking at the girl in his arms, "Maria?"

She beamed at him, "Hello!"

"No," he shook his head, "You can't be little Ria! She was only 7 last I saw her!"

Maria blinked too, "That was 13 years ago Uncle."

"Was it?" he considered it a moment, "Right, yes," he nodded, "Yes it was, oh Ria!" he hugged her again, "I'm glad you've finally arrived, though I was expecting you with your brother."

"I know," she smiled apologetically, "There was a bit of a flub with my school, the system wouldn't count me as graduated."

"What? Why?"

"It kept registering me as Marayna Emrys instead of Maria," she shrugged, "I don't understand how it happened."

"Marayna?" Merlin sniggered, "That's not even a proper name."

"Yes, because _Merlin_ is so much better," Maria rolled her eyes, moving to sit back beside her brother.

"And what are you two up to, hmm?" Gus walked around the table, catching the top of the laptop before Merlin could close it, his eyes widening before he whacked Merlin on the back of the head, "What have I told you about hacking!?"

"Um…" Merlin winced.

"Especially hacking into Pendragon Security!"

"I had to uncle," Merlin defended, "Arthur would have had me at his office for HOURS sorting through his files. This program will transfer it all automatically without me sifting through it. And then, it's like, why do it from there when I can do it from right here on my laptop," he pointed at it, "And…"

"Merlin," Maria called apologetically, taking his finger and tapping it at the computer, the screen now black.

"Oh wonderful," Merlin leaned forward to make sure all the wires were plugged in, it was all fine, but the computer had shorted out apparently the second he pointed at it, "Why does this always happen?"

"Maybe it's a sign you should leave well enough alone," Gus stated, turning to putter around the stove, planning to fix them dinner as they were sure to be in for a long night.

"I might be able to get it back," Maria tugged the laptop towards herself, "This happened all the time to me at school, right in the middle of typing papers and timed exams…" she shook her head, "Had to develop a program to get it back…"

"I will be your best friend forever if you get it all back," Merlin told her.

"I'm your sister, I'm already your best friend forever," Maria reminded him, not looking up as she tapped away, code after code.

"What about…"

"I don't count Will," she cut in, "There!" she smiled, getting the program back up, "Ooh, it's erased your automated transfer though…"

Merlin sighed, "Give it here," he tugged the laptop back over, pulling up a small notebook that he'd written all his plans and codes and algorithms in, repeating the code he'd used first.

~8~

The next day had gone much smoother for Merlin, though he was quite sure it was because Maria had insisted on going with him to Pendragon Security to help assist HIM throughout the day as he was still quite sore from the day before. He'd just sat in his chair all day and anything that needed doing elsewhere or involved getting up his sister would take care of. Arthur hadn't cared at all about having her around as he'd been rather impressed with Merlin right off the bat in getting the files all transferred and backed up before the day started, none the wiser that Merlin hadn't pulled an all-nighter for it.

He'd also seemed a bit distracted too, constantly on the phone with someone, arguing half the time, making sweet remarks the other half. Merlin had explained it was likely Arthur's girlfriend, Sophie, that he was on the phone with. They were in a 'long distance' relationship despite the distance only being about twenty floors down as she was one of the women at the front desk.

One last benefit of the day was that Merlin hadn't had to go to the demonstration. It seemed Arthur had been in such a good mood after his last conversation with Sophie that he'd let Merlin off. Besides, it was the day that the clients would be taught to go through the motions and practice on the bodyguards teaching them, so there was no need for Merlin to be there.

They'd gone home early for the day, had been sitting around the telly watching Doctor Who, some episode where the Doctor had gotten stuck in the middle of nowhere with a crowd of humans, with Maria constantly teasing Merlin that he looked like 'that Jethro bloke' through the entirety of it when their uncle came home in a right state.

Apparently one of the bodyguards had been brought to the infirmary and showing signs of being poisoned by snake venom. There was one small puncture mark that he could make out on the man, Ewan, he'd found it on the middle of his forearm, like an injection, but no one knew how it could have possibly gotten there. The symptoms were consistent with poisoning, according to their uncle, Ewan had a slow pulse, a fever, he was paralyzed…he'd had to be moved to the proper hospital for treatment but the doctors had told him that it didn't seem likely that Ewan would live, not unless they could identify the snake venom for an antidote

Which was why the two were huddled around Merlin's laptop, using their 'magic' to hack into the security system of Camelot, going through the files and recordings to track Ewan throughout the day. From what their uncle had said, the poison was fast acting and Ewan hadn't shown any signs of it according to the other bodyguards till late. But still, they found him on the surveillance, tracked him through the entire day, right to the demonstration.

They watched the footage continue, to a break in the demonstration, to the bodyguards heading over to get water, to Ewan as he leaned against a wall for a moment…before sliding down it, completely passed out as the others rushed to help him.

"It had to happen then," Merlin mumbled, tapping away and playing back the demonstration alone.

"Hold on," Maria pulled the laptop towards her, tapping in codes to blow the picture up, "Tell me that's not…"

"It is," Merlin nodded, seeing what she had noticed, the person that had been assigned to 'spar' against Ewan…was Marcus Valiant.

And not only that…the man was watching Ewan, the moment they broke for water, the man had been staring at Ewan the entire time, watching him far too intently for him to not be waiting for something to happen. And when it did, when Ewan collapsed, Marcus was the only one calm.

"Uncle!" they shouted.

"What?" Gus looked up from where he was going over Ewan's notes on the sofa, trying to make sure he hadn't missed anything. The last thing Pendragon Security would need was a lawsuit on negligence on his part.

"It was Marcus Valiant," Maria told him, "One of the clients," she added, knowing he might not have a clue who Marcus Valiant was.

"What?" he got up and moved over to them, "What have I told you…" he began when he saw what they'd done.

"Yes, yes, hacking bad, jail, blah, blah, blah," Merlin waved it off, "LOOK," he played the footage again, zooming in even more to the demonstration. They could see Ewan and Marcus talking, before Ewan motioned for Marcus to turn around, about to demonstrate an attack from behind. He moved towards Marcus, grabbing him once around the neck with his right hand, and around the middle with his left…and flinch, his left arm jerking, as though he'd been stuck with something.

"Was it his left arm that had the puncture?" Maria looked up at him.

"It was," he frowned, the footage playing out more, showing the break, how Ewan was walking away from Marcus, rubbing his left arm, shaking it out.

"He must have stuck him, injected him with the venom!"

"But how?"

"He could have hidden it under his shirt?" Merlin offered, "He was there during the first demonstration, he knew that he'd get a chance to participate in it this time. He knew how the men would grab him and where…he could have fixed it under his shirt so it would stick whoever grabbed him."

"So what do we do?" Maria looked at them, "We weren't there. We can't just…tell Arthur we found this out by hacking into the systems."

Merlin let out a breath, that was…the worst thing they could ever say to Arthur, that they'd hacked in. His father was…paranoid, about hackers especially, about moles, about betrayal. It was why he had branched out Pendragon Security so much, he wanted safety and security, in all areas of life. Anyone that was selling secrets to the 'enemy,' the competitors, would be in hell when Mr. Pendragon found out. Anyone hacking into the system would be…well, to be fired by Pendragon Security, in today's world, was a death sentence near enough, it could financially ruin someone, ruin their family. Mr. Pendragon boasted that his programs were the best, the most secure, despite his only real competitor, Dragoon Incorporated, being just slightly higher in the reviews than Pendragon Security. He boasted being the best, and if anyone, especially someone inside the company, could hack at it…it would destroy the company's reputation.

"We need proof then," their uncle put a hand on their shoulders, "Find some other way to prove what you know. You can't accuse Mr. Valiant of doing anything without proof, as much as the company hates damage to its reputation, it hates driving off clients more. The CEO would have your hide for causing him to lose business."

"And he'd never believe us anyway," Merlin grumbled, glancing at his sister when she gave him a confused look, "He's not very…warm to those lower on the employee scale," he explained, "He runs his business relying on his assistants and yet he'd never listen to any of them. To him, they don't understand the business and should just stick to answering phones and maintaining the schedules for him and Arthur and Morgan."

"Brilliant," Maria muttered.

~8~

Merlin and Maria made sure to be at the next demonstration despite Merlin having been told he wouldn't participate again…apparently he wouldn't be able to pull off being in a believable defense position without flinching every time someone moved at him…watching Marcus closely, seeing how intently he was watching the demonstration, now on the offensive. He was jotting down notes, his eyes never straying from the event before him.

Maria sighed as she saw how they were going about the offensive tactics, all of it would give anyone too much chance to strike someone and actually poison them. A punch to the stomach, a shove of the hand, a kick to the shin…there were too many ways to land a blow especially with the bodyguards teaching them how to land it and make sure it hit despite someone defending themselves.

"Uncle," Merlin greeted as he glanced over to see Gus joining them in the back corner.

"This isn't going to end well tomorrow," Maria murmured, "They're going to let the clients take part and who knows who Marcus will target then."

Gus nodded solemn, "I've been thinking," he told them quietly, "If we manage to find out which snake it was that the venom came from, the doctors could cure Ewan and he could speak for himself. He would surely recall the pain in his arm and who he was fighting. From HIS mouth it might be enough to investigate Mr. Valiant."

"But how are we going to find that out?" Merlin shook his head.

Maria squinted, seeing Marcus grinning, "Merlin…" she reached out to grab his hand gently, "Do you see that?" she nodded towards Marcus, "Do you see what he was taking notes on?"

"An iPad," he remarked, before his eyes widened, "Yes!"

Gus looked over as the two ran out of the room, not wanting to know. The less he knew about what they got up to the less he would be lying if he was ever asked.

~8~

It was all anyone in Camelot would talk about the next morning, how Ewan had woken from a coma thanks to an anonymous tip left with the doctors of Albion Hospital about what he'd been poisoned with. Everyone seemed to be under the assumption that whoever had poisoned him had felt so much guilt that they were now trying to save him.

And that was just fine, that was exactly what Merlin and Maria needed them to think.

Let them believe a would-be murderer had a change of heart than to realize two people had hacked into Marcus Valiant's computers and found his designs and schematics for how he'd poisoned Ewan along with an identification of the snake venom that was used. Valiant was…a severely disturbed individual, he'd been plotting this out for ages now and, from what they could gather of his notes, his target was actually Arthur. Apparently the man's brother used to work for Pendragon Security and had been fired, the man had been on his last legs when it happened, and it had driven him to the drink. He'd died and Valiant was now determined to seek revenge on Mr. Pendragon for what happened to his brother. He'd taken time to design a small syringe that held the venom within it, dispensing it the second it struck flesh. It was a small thing, able to be attached to the skin on one side. Valiant had known that one of the bodyguards would grab him around the side and stuck it there, he even had notes of where he planned to put the syringe for the offensive demonstrations.

"I wonder who it was," Arthur remarked as he sat on the edge of his desk, tossing a small koosh ball in the air, Merlin in the middle of going over his schedule for the day and having just gotten to the part about how Mr. Pendragon had scheduled for him, Morgan, and Arthur to visit Ewan after that night's demonstration, to check in on him in a show of care.

A care Mr. Pendragon clearly didn't feel as he was only doing this now that the man was up and now when he'd been admitted.

"Isn't it obvious?" Maria shook her head, wandering the back of his office, looking at various pictures and certificates framed on the wall, "It was that Mr. Valiant."

Arthur rolled his eyes, "He IS a snake, I agree, but not the sort that got to Ewan."

"She does have a point, Arthur," Merlin added, "Wasn't Ewan demonstrating with him?"

Arthur narrowed his eyes at Merlin, "How would you know?"

"Office gossip," Maria saved him from having to explain, "We're not the only ones who think Valiant managed to do that to Ewan."

They probably were, but that was besides the point.

"He was watching the demonstration," Merlin continued, "He could have known how Ewan was gonna grab him and stuck him."

"There's even a puncture mark," Maria nodded, "You can speak to Dr. Emrys. He found it on Ewan's arm," she lifted her left arm and rubbed her forearm.

"You're saying that Valiant attacked one of our bodyguards?" Arthur eyed them, "He wouldn't. We search all clients upon entering the building, he wouldn't have been able to sneak anything, least of all a syringe in there."

"It could have been a small one, hidden under his clothes, or he hid it somewhere else and stuck it on right before the demonstration. Your security isn't THAT good."

"Pendragon Security is the best in the world," he defended.

"And yet they let her in," Merlin nodded at his sister, "She's a right menace. Complete danger to others her."

"Love you too Merlin," Maria rolled her eyes.

"Look," Merlin sighed, "The doctors, they've made an antidote from the venom, yeah?" Arthur nodded, "So when you go to visit Ewan later, ASK him. Ask him when he first felt the puncture. My money is on when he was fighting with Valiant."

"The venom too," Maria walked over, resting her hands on the back of Merlin's chair, "The snake it came from? We looked it up, it can only be found in one area…"

"Let me guess, where Valiant's from?" Arthur scoffed.

"Yes," they nodded, dead serious.

Arthur frowned at that, as far as he knew, Valiant was the only one of the clients from that particular region. He eyed the two a moment, if that was true, what they said about the snake, then that was rather firm evidence that Valiant was likely the culprit, "I want you to swear to me, what you're telling me is true."

"I swear it's true," Merlin promised as his sister nodded.

"Then..." Arthur seemed to struggle with what he was about to say, "I believe you. I'll speak to my father about this."

~8~

Maria smiled a bit as she walked back into Pendragon Securities, feeling rather pleased with herself. She'd had an appointment, an interview, with a local museum, for a job giving tours and talking about the different artifacts in certain departments and branches of it. She'd had to leave Merlin alone with Arthur to attend the meeting around lunch, but it had been worth it. If she got the job she'd be very relieved, the only other option was to ask Merlin if he knew if there were any other jobs open at Camelot and she would rather set herself on fire than be stuck working around Arthur that much.

She made her way through the front desk and up to the top floor, about to check in with Merlin when she saw her uncle across the hall, about to knock on Mr. Pendragon's office door, "Uncle?"

"Ria," he greeted her as she walked over to him, "I'm glad to see you my dear."

She frowned, seeing the expression on his face, "What is it? What's wrong?"

"It's Ewan," he told her, "I've just been informed by the doctors that he's passed on."

"What?"

He nodded, "I was about to inform Mr. Pendragon," he gestured to the door and knocked on it gently.

A moment later the door was opened by a middle aged man, Mr. Pendragon's assistant, who promptly let them in as Dr. Emrys was a respected friend of Mr. Pendragon and Mr. Pendragon had an open door policy when it came to Dr. Emrys.

They both stopped short when they saw what was going on inside the room, Arthur was on one side, with Merlin beside him, while Marcus Valiant himself stood on the other side, his arms crossed, looking both smug and offended at once, while Mr. Pendragon sat at his desk in the middle of the large, imposing room, his elbows on the desk, the tips of his fingers together as he looked at his son over the top of them.

"I am telling you, father," Arthur was speaking, "When we visit Ewan, we can ask him himself, but for the time being, I cannot in good conscious allow Mr. Valiant to participate in the demonstration given his involvement with Ewan's poisoning."

"Why wait till later?" Marcus countered, "I'm sure a man of your importance, Mr. Pendragon, could call the hospital up and speak to Ewan right this very moment. I have no qualms with him being questioned about this."

"Dr. Emrys?" Mr. Pendragon called, seeing him slowly approaching with Maria behind him, "What have you to say about this?"

Gus looked at Merlin and Arthur with a sigh before informing them, "I'm afraid Ewan has died."

"What?!" Arthur had the same reaction as Maria.

"I was just informed by the doctors that he passed," he nodded, "He'd been administered a second dosage of the venom."

"And here I am," Valiant gestured to himself, "Standing before you, not in the hospital, completely unable to do anything even if I had been the one to poison him the first time."

"That is all the proof I need," Mr. Pendragon stood, looking at his son, "Did you see, Mr. Valiant, physically puncture Ewan?"

"No," Arthur frowned, "But good, logical points were brought up to me by my assistant and his…"

Mr. Pendragon scoffed, "Your assistant," he muttered, "You made these outrageous accusations against one of our potential clients, on the word of your assistant, whom, I believe, was not even there to witness the event at all."

"Father, the points they brought up were…ARE sound," Arthur defended, "If you just…"

"They?" Mr. Pendragon cut in, "You have ONE assistant Arthur, who is this second 'they?'"

"Merlin and…"

"And who?!"

"Me, sir," Maria stepped beside her uncle.

"And who are _you_?"

"Um," Merlin spoke up, "She's my sister. She's visiting."

"And was SHE present during this?"

"Um…no?"

"Then she has no say either," he looked at his son.

"I must admit," Valiant spoke, "I find this all rather unprofessional that I am being called in here and accused of such atrocious acts on the say of some children. Perhaps I should take my business elsewhere and invest in another company more trusting of their clients. I've heard Dragoon Incorporated is rather agreeable…"

"I offer you our most sincere apologies, Mr. Valiant," Mr. Pendragon offered, "I know you have been most interested in the demonstrations. As a show of good faith, I would like to suggest Arthur be assigned your partner tonight. Arthur?"

Arthur's jaw tensed at that, his hands curled into fists, more at the sheer embarrassment he'd suffered in front of his father. So all he could do was give a curt nod, before turning to storm out of the office. Merlin and Maria exchanged a look before hurrying after him, cutting off Mr. Pendragon continuing to try and placate Valiant as they went.

Everything was silent, until Arthur reached his office, which was thankfully empty, and rounded on them, "I believed you!" he yelled, "I trusted you and you made me look like a complete idiot in front of my father!"

"Well, er," Merlin glanced at Maria and back, "We know it didn't go exactly to plan…"

"'Didn't go to plan?'" Arthur mocked, "My father just had to apologize to a client," he told them, as though it was the most devastating thing to happen, "And now he thinks I'm completely incompetent! You _humiliated_ me!"

"It's not that bad," Maria shook her head, "There has to be a way to get the truth out of Valiant then and…"

Arthur just held up his hand and looked at Merlin, "You're fired."

"What?!" Merlin gaped, and this time it really WAS the most devastating thing to happen.

"You're firing him?" Maria shook her head, "For what?"

"For slander," Arthur added, "For incompetency," he shrugged, "I need someone who won't spread lies in my ear and lead to that. I need someone I can trust."

"You _can_ trust me," Merlin stressed

"Yes, and look where that got me," Arthur glared, "Now get out. Pack your desk, and get out of this building or I'll have security escort you out."

And, with that, Arthur shoved past them and stalked out of the room, leaving Merlin standing there, wide eyed and open mouthed.

But Maria, on the other hand, was far more angry than shocked and moved after him, following him down the hall and shoving her hand into the lift doors, keeping them from closing and letting herself into the lift with him.

"How dare you?" she demanded as the doors closed.

"I don't have to answer to you," Arthur pushed the button for the lobby angrily.

"Like hell you don't. You don't get to fire my brother for no good reason."

"It was a very good reason! And if you do not stop harassing me I'll…"

"You'll what?" she cut in, crossing her arms, "I'm not one of your employees, I don't work for you, you don't scare me. How could you do that to Merlin!? He's done nothing but assist you and do all your ridiculous errands and make sure you're on time and have your damned coffee in the morning and you…you just cast him out like he didn't mean anything! Like he was nothing! He helped you're your entire company and this is how you repay that? By firing him from it?"

"I wouldn't expect you to understand what he has done, what you both have done," Arthur glared as the doors opened, letting them out onto the first floor, "You both betrayed my trust in you. You obviously lied to me. You let me make a fool of myself in front of the CEO of the company. Your brother deserved what he got."

That…was not the best thing to say to an angry Maria, not at all.

Because the next thing he knew, there was a shout, something about him being a…clotpole, before a fist had flown right at his face, a firm right hook right to the jaw…

~8~

"We are NOT telling mum about this, Merlin," Maria muttered two hours later as she and Merlin walked out of Albion's police office.

"Oh yes," Merlin rolled his eyes, "Why would we tell our mother that you got _arrested_? How did that even happen?" he shook his head at her, leading her around the corner and heading down the street. Luckily the jail had been within walking distance of Pendragon Security and he hadn't had to wait for any transport to go get his sister.

He'd just been finishing up clearing out his desk into the plastic bag around his wrist, when he'd gotten a call from her that she needed him to come bail her out of jail.

That was not something he'd been expecting on top of getting sacked.

"Apparently punching a prat in the face is grounds for an assault charge," she muttered.

Merlin had to smile at that, "You punched Arthur?"

"I think I broke my hand," she shook out her right hand, her knuckles were a little red and raw but not too bad off.

He let out a breath, "You're really lucky that people saw you both fighting before you clocked him," he told her, "He's not pressing charges."

"Good," Maria sighed, "I'm sorry Merlin," she told him, "I really am, that you got sacked."

He shrugged, "It was bound to happen at some point," he tried to make light of it, but the worry about what he'd do now for a job still niggled in his gut, "I'm a terrible personal assistant. Speaking of jobs though," he changed the subject from himself quickly, "How did your interview go?"

She smiled a bit, "I think it went well," she looked over, across the street, and nodded, "It's right there, actually," she pointed, "Want to stop in?"

"Yeah," he nodded, "I could do with a distraction."

They carefully looked both ways before heading across the street and into the museum. They made a small donation at the front desk and got a little badge to enter, and just…wandered.

"Ooh, over here," Maria smiled, pulling him towards a wing of paintings, "This one's my favorite."

Merlin looked at the title, "'The Golden Age of Camelot,'" he read, before glancing at the painting. It was a castle, a magnificent castle, with red banners that had golden dragons on them waving in the breeze. There were small people wandering about, too small to really make out any distinguishing features, but it looked like a small coronation was happening, someone with black hair was kneeling while another person held a grown above them, "I thought Camelot fell though."

"That IS what the legends would have you believe," a voice said behind them, making them jump.

There was an old man behind them, wrinkled, but smiling at them, with short gray hair and sparkling blue eyes, his voice deep with a lovely drawl to it though. He was dressed in a simple suit, a bit brown though it seemed to have an almost golden hue to it.

"Forgive my interruption," he chuckled.

"Merlin," Maria smiled, "This is the curator," she introduced, "Mr. Garren."

"Killian, please," the man held out a hand to shake Merlin's.

"Sir, this is my brother, Merlin."

"Ooh," he gave a smile at that, "Like the Archmage of Camelot are you?"

"No, no," Merlin shook his head, "No, I'm not quite that old yet, no beard either," he gestured at his jaw which only held a hint of black stubble.

"No," Killian eyed him, "No I don't suppose you are," he glanced at Maria, looking at her a long moment as well, "Ah well, a man of legend he was."

"Legends, yeah," Merlin nodded, "I thought Camelot did fall though, that's what all the stories say."

"There are always two sides to every story though," the man remarked wisely, "Much like there are two sides to every coin. This portrait," he stepped closer to it, "Represents another version of the legend. One where Camelot flourished for centuries after it was said to fall to ruin, due in large part to the new Queen, who provided King Arthur with two strong children. This here," he pointed to the black-haired man being crowned, "Is their son, William, it's said. On his coronation day."

"I thought Queen Guinevere couldn't have children though."

"She couldn't," Killian agreed, "But she isn't the queen I speak of. Ooh, the Witch Queen, the High Priestess of the Old Religion, she was called, sister of Merlin."

"Merlin didn't have a sister."

"Oh thanks," Maria teased, nudging him.

"You know what I mean," Merlin smiled, "I meant back then, in the stories. No sister."

"Some stories," Killian corrected, "That is the wonder of legends, after all, there are many different versions of them, many different translations, often quite different than what we believe happened. For example, Robin Hood and his Maid Marian, yes?" they nodded, "Or is it Robin Hood and his Queen Clorinda?" they gave him a confused look, making him chuckle, "In some versions of his legend, he loves not a maid but a queen. Such is the same with Camelot, in some legends Arthur marries his Guinevere, in others, he has a different love."

"Who?" Maria asked.

Killian let out a sad breath, "And, as with legends, some parts are lost to us," he gave a shrug.

"But wait," Merlin shook his head, "If this…sister, that Merlin had, if she was really his sister, wouldn't she have been too old to marry Arthur? Merlin was an old man."

Killian chuckled, "Ah but he possessed magic," he reminded them, "He could have merely made himself LOOK old when it suited him. In this version," he gestured at the painting, looking at it fondly, "He was a young man," he glanced at Merlin, "As young as you, I'd say. Manservant to Prince Arthur before he became king."

Merlin scoffed at that, "No way, there's no way Merlin, the wizard, would be anyone's servant."

"He felt that way as well," Killian nodded, "But it was his destiny to protect Arthur, as it was his sister's to love him. And no one can escape their destiny."

"If that Arthur is anything like our Arthur, I pity him," Merlin muttered, "I bet he wasn't as much a…clotpole as ours is."

"He was probably worse," Maria scoffed, "THAT one would have been an actual prince, could you imagine the ego?"

Merlin had to nod at that, that was a good point.

"I would imagine it would be quite something," Killian mused, "If this legend is true, this Merlin tried to leave behind his destiny. The Prince was arrogant, that is true, he did not make Merlin or his sister's life easy. Often they fought, often they were hurt, and often they wanted to give up on the Prince."

"So what kept them there?" Maria looked at the picture, at the small blob that was the son of King Arthur and his other wife, "Why stay if they were always being hurt and put down?"

Killian let out a long breath, "They were the only ones that could protect him," he said simply, "They were the only ones that saw what others did not. They could not bear the thought of a life ending because they were not there to save it."

Merlin and Maria glanced at each other and back at the portrait, not even hearing Killian take his leave nor see him go with a small smirk on his face.

~8~

Merlin and Maria strode through the halls of Camelot, heading for the rooms the demonstration was going to be held in. Thankfully word hadn't quite spread to everyone that Merlin had been fired and the front guards and desk had let him in with little trouble, the two of them hurrying, trying to make it there before the demonstrations began.

As luck would have it, for once, it was on their side and they reached the rooms just as Arthur finished up his opening speeches and stepped off to the side, allowing two of the 'knights' to do a quick refresher on the tactics from the day before.

"Arthur!" Merlin hissed as they made their way over to where he was struggling to get his second glove on, "Oh, give me that," he huffed, grabbing the glove from him.

"I thought I fired you Merlin," Arthur glared though he allowed Merlin to get the glove on him.

"You fired HIM," Maria reminded him, "How's the jaw?"

Arthur's eyes narrowed at her, "Come to apologize?"

"Not a chance."

"Look," Merlin cut in, "We know you're going to face Valiant, we get it, you won't back out, your dad won't let you but…you've got to be careful."

Arthur rolled his eyes, "I've taught all these men, Merlin, they've taught our clients, I am the safest one here."

"No, you're really not," Maria shook her head, "Look…" she glanced at Merlin, who nodded, and leaned in to speak to Arthur more quietly, "Chances are, if Valiant really was the one to poison Ewan, he's going to try to poison whoever he's fighting today too. And it's offense, he'll have more opportunity to hit you."

"We think he might be hiding the syringe with the venom in his gloves," they glanced over to Valiant who was standing there, trying to seem like he was focusing on the demonstration, though he kept fiddling with his glove on his right hand.

Arthur frowned at the sight.

"If he tries to come at you with his right hand, do your best not to get hit," Maria added, "The poison will work fast and now that Ewan's dead, it'll probably be a stronger dose, you'll be dead before you can hit the ground."

Oh they really hoped he was buying their 'guesses.' They'd seen the plans on Valiant's computers, he'd worked out how to slip the syringe into the glow, fix it right to the underside of one of the gloves so no one would see it, but that, if he hit Arthur the right way, the boy would get stuck with it. They'd seen his plans, and they'd seen that it included and up in the dosage.

A quick hack into Albion Hospital's visitor's log just after they'd left the museum, more determined to stop this than before, had revealed that Ewan had a guest come visit him. The security footage proved it to be Valiant, who had gone to see Ewan just that morning. Only a short while after news had broke that Ewan woke up. No one thought anything of Valiant being there, it was a client visiting his instructor. And no one had guessed he'd poisoned Ewan with a second dosage as it had been diluted, had taken longer for the symptoms to kick in, for Ewan to go into shock and pass. Enough time for Valiant to be seen elsewhere right at the time of death.

They just had to hope that Arthur would buy that they were 'guessing' at this instead of realize they KNEW.

"If you can," Merlin added, "Try to grab his arm, see if you can get a look at the glove. You can call the demonstration if you see anything odd on the glove, can't you?"

Arthur looked back at them, eyeing them intently, seeing that they were dead serious, holding his gaze, their shoulders set, ready to fight him if he denied this. And something in him told him not to, not to discredit what they were saying. Everything they'd told him before, it still made sense to him despite how angry he was at having had his father shouting at him and treating him like he was being ridiculous for listening to them. Their points held, and so did these.

He gave them a curt nod and turned to head back to the demonstration, leaving them with no choice but to watch as the event continued as normal, the bodyguards breaking up to pair with the clients, Arthur taking Valiant himself, going through the offensive motions that Valiant would be copying and using against him. They held their breath, watching the two men begin and it became clear far too quickly that Valiant was truly trying to land a blow at Arthur with his right hand.

He wasn't even copying the offensive moves anymore, he was literally just trying to swing at Arthur, making a valiant effort to do so, but Arthur was doing a better job of keeping back. Maria gasped when, in one motion, Arthur managed to grab the man's arm and twist it up behind him, giving him a clear and close look at the glove in question.

"Breach!" he shouted out, the other bodyguards immediately stopping their own demonstrations and running to Arthur's side at the cry that their security had been breached.

They grabbed Valiant and yanked him down, letting Arthur pull the man's glove off and, very carefully, peel the syringe off of it. He peered at it a moment and then to Valiant, on his knees, glaring up at him, and shook his head, "Now, they see you for what you really are," he stated, "Take him to confinement," he told two of the men holding Valiant down, looking to a third, "Call enforcement," and a fourth, "And inform my father of the breach."

The men nodded and quickly went to do as they were ordered, Arthur looking to the remaining men, "Double up," he told four of them, "And continue with the program."

He waited a moment to make sure that everything was resuming with easy, smirking a bit when he heard various clients whispering that that had been an incredible thing to watch, the true safety precautions and training coming into play, giving them a better display of what Pendragon Security was all about. He looked over at Merlin and Maria, nodding to them in thanks.

~8~

That night a group of the bodyguards dragged Arthur to a local pub for a drink after the attempt on his life, feeling that the man deserved a night out. His father had, of course, not really acknowledge that he'd been wrong in how he handled the situation, how he'd overreacted, but Arthur felt it had a bit to do with the fact that admitting to it would mean admitting he'd basically sent his son to his death in partnering him with the man trying to kill him.

He looked up from chugging down a pint to the cheers of a few of his mates, to see his sister walking over to him with Gwen, "Morgan," he smirked, wiping his mouth with his sleeve.

"Charming," Morgan shook her head at him, "Have you seen Merlin anywhere?"

"Merlin?" Arthur frowned, "What do you want with him?"

Morgan rolled her eyes, "Gwen told me his sister came to visit. I was busy before but I wanted to meet her."

She really had. It was…odd, the moment Gwen had mentioned Merlin's sister was there, started talking about her, she'd felt this odd wave of déjà vu, felt this need to meet the girl. It was a good feeling though, it made her…happy, excited, and relieved at the same time and she didn't know why. But she was hoping, when she got to meet the girl it might be clearer. Perhaps it was just because she was Merlin's sister, but she didn't really know…

"I don't think she's here, either of them. I don't think that they'd know to be here and…"

"I invited them," Gwen spoke up, before stepping back when both siblings looked at her, "I mean…I hope that's ok. Merlin's still my friend even if you fired him."

"You FIRED him?" Morgan's eyes narrowed, making Arthur wince, "Arthur!"

"I know, I know," he sighed, knowing Morgan had a soft spot for the big-eared idiot.

"Oh, there they are!" Gwen smiled, "Merlin! Maria!" she waved them over.

Arthur turned around, ready to greet/apologize to them when his mouth dropped open. Maria had her hair free, hanging around her face in gentle waves, held half back by a clip behind her head. She was dressed in a light blue dress that was hugging her curves, small sleeves over her shoulder, the dress going down to mid thigh, with black flats on her feet. He swallowed hard, trying not to let his eyes wander…and blaming the alcohol he'd just chugged when they inevitably did.

"Merlin," Morgan smiled at him, "Is this your sister?"

"Uh, yeah," Merlin stuttered a bit at Morgan's grin, "Mia…Maria," he corrected, "This is my sister, Maria. This is Morgan."

"Nice to meet you," Maria reached out to shake Morgan's hand.

"I've heard a lot about you from Gwen," Morgan nodded at her friend beside her, "I've been wanting to meet you for a while. I'm sorry it took this long though."

"It's fine," Maria waved it off, "Merlin mentioned you were busy."

Among other things.

Somehow, oddly enough, Morgan tended to find her way into Merlin's everyday conversation, repeatedly, at length.

She was never letting her brother live it down.

"I love your dress," Morgan added.

"Oh, thanks," Maria looked down, tugging at it, "I um…it actually was dropped off at our uncle's flat before with a note to come to the pub."

"But…I sent Merlin a text," Gwen frowned at that, seeming confused.

Morgan just smiled, though it was more of a smirk now, "Interesting."

Maria glanced over at her, lifting her eyebrow just slightly at Morgan's reaction, if she didn't know any better, she would have thought Morgan had sent her the dress…but that would require knowing where she lived and that she was staying at her uncle's instead of finding her own place…which no one knew but Merlin and Arthur and she doubted the man would mention something like that to Morgan.

Odd…

"What do you think Arthur?" Morgan turned to her brother, who was still staring at Maria.

"Um…nice?" Arthur offered.

Beautiful would have been a better word…if she had been beautiful. But she wasn't. She wasn't because he did NOT see her like that. Not at all. Not Merlin's sister. No. No, no, no. No.

Yes.

But no!

"I need a drink," Arthur said quickly, turning to head to the bar to get another.

Maria glanced at Merlin, who was smiling and trying not to look at Morgan, who was grinning and trying to get him to look at her, to Gwen who was shaking her head at the two of them as though this were a common occurrence, and over to Arthur, before patting her brother's arm and making her way after the blonde man.

"You know," she leaned on the bar next to him, "I think my brother is STILL waiting on an apology from a rather large toddler that threw a tantrum before."

Arthur rolled his eyes at that, "Despite the trouble you both caused me," he spoke, "I…do feel bad about firing him," he could admit that, "You were right, in the end."

Maria smirked at that, "Well, good thing I'm here then, because I know just the way to make it up to him."

"And what's that?"

She pointed at the beer in his hand, "Buy him a drink."

"It would be unprofessional to do that."

"I don't see us standing in an office," she countered, "It's after hours and I'm pretty sure you haven't actually rehired my brother yet. So, not unprofessional at all."

"Yes, well…I acted rashly," he muttered, "I'm…considering rehiring Merlin," he took a swig of the drink, "And I suppose, if you are going to be around your brother, I might as well hire you too."

She shook her head, "I've got another job already."

He eyed her for that, "Really?"

She nodded, "Well…waiting to hear back."

"Then you don't have one," he smirked, "So, how about this, you work for me as my…secretary, till this 'other job' calls you. If you get it, best of luck. If not, then you've at least got a job at one of the top security corporations in the world."

Maria almost snorted at that, he was making it sound like the company itself had an ego as big as his won, "Sounds fair," she agreed, "But if I were you, I'd be very sure you know what you're getting yourself into hiring me along with my brother," she gave him one more smile before she turned and walked over to Morgan and Gwen, starting to talk to the two women as he watched her go.

"Her eyes are up there," Merlin's voice called from next to him, making him jump, not having seen Merlin even make his way over let alone appear on his other side.

"Of course they are," Arthur took another deep drink of his beverage.

Merlin shook his head at that, glancing around at the handful of other men in the pub that had noticed his sister, trying his best to glare at each of them in turn though they hardly noticed.

"Look," Arthur sighed after a moment, "I wanted to say…I made a mistake. It was unfair to sack you."

Merlin shrugged, "Buy me a drink and we'll call it square."

Arthur laughed at that, that was exactly what Maria said to do, "ONE drink," he warned, turning to motion to the barkeep for one more drink, "Last thing I need is you turning up at the office tomorrow hungover and your sister needing to lug you around."

"Why would my sister be lugging me around?" Merlin frowned.

"Well, since you're complete rubbish at remembering what DAY it is," Arthur remarked, "I've decided to split your duties. You'll still be my personal assistant, but your sister will be my secretary. She'll be in charge of my schedule and phone calls, and you can handle everything else."

Merlin had to smirk at that, "I hope you know what you've just gotten yourself into," he warned, leaning back to take the beer the barkeep was handing him.

"I'm starting to think I should be concerned," Arthur murmured dryly.

Merlin, though, was dead serious as he nodded, "You should be."

When he and his sister were together…there was no telling what would happen.

A/N: I HAD to make Marayna's new name Maria, I HAD to lol :) After all the people who got her name wrong in the original story and kept calling her Maria, I just had to do it ;) Lol :) I can say that some people will have new names, others will have the same (though I can say Merlin's name is actually a nickname here), some characters will appear earlier, some later. But all of them will, visually, be the same actors/actresses as in the show/story, so Maria looks a bit like Natalie Dormer :)

Sadly...I can say there will be no magic in this story :( There WILL be some allusions to it, to the past magic that Merlin and his sister had, small little glimpses of something off about them that'll get more clear as the story goes ;) I strongly considered making this a bit more of a future-modern story, sort of like Agents of SHIELD in dealing with inhumans and others with enhanced abilities, allowing the magic to manifest in another way, but I _really_ wanted to challenge myself and make this story feel like it really could be happening in the modern day and age, like it could be happening in our world right now :) I really wanted to see just how much I could change to fit our world but still make it clear how it relates to the original story. I wanted it to have more of a paralleling feel, like you recognize some moments and scenes from the original story even if they happen differently or with different people, that it's still familiar :)

So here, magic = hacking :) Which actually fit in really well with what I have planned for other things to come :) I hope you liked my interpretation of what Camelot was and that things are clear and interesting enough even without the magic :) I tried not to cram too much into just the first chapter in terms of explaining every little difference from the original series and how it fit to our world, we'll learn more and more as we go, but I hope it was ok :)

I've also decided to make the area it's all taking place in a city that is also called Albion. I know that Albion is an archaic name for Great Britain but I feel like, if certain states can have cities named after the entire state (New York, New York, Kansas City, Kansas, etc) that it might be ok to have the sort of 'fictional city' this happens in be Albion too :) If that's completely wrong or offensive or anything at all, please let me know and I'll come up with another city name :) I'm going to try and keep true to the terminology and words used for a story based in England, like...'lift' instead of 'elevator' and things, so if there's every anything in the story that's more the American version of a word or something, just let me know and I'll be sure to fix it ;)

And, on 2 final notes, the title, as with the original series all relating to the life cycle of a fire, a Flashover is when a fire seems to have been put out, where it dies down, but one small breath of air causes it to flare to life once more, usually bigger and more powerful than before, which I thought was fitting for the story :) I also don't think other chapters will be quite as long as this one lol, just to warn ;)


	2. First Days

First Days

Maria smiled as she saw her brother stumble out of his room, well, more like their room, early the next morning, rubbing his head, his expression telling of an agonizing pain in his head, "Arthur bought you more than just one drink?" she guessed.

Merlin groaned as he flopped down onto a chair by the kitchen table, "He got me two."

She raised an eyebrow at that.

"Ooh don't do that Mia," Merlin groaned, "Not so early."

"Do what?" she laughed, glancing back at the breakfast she was making.

"That eyebrow thing you and uncle do," he waved an arm in her general direction, his face buried in the elbow of his other arm, muffling his words, "It's too early for the brow of doom."

Maria shook her head at her brother and walked over, placing a hand on his shoulder as she set the plate of breakfast down before him, "Here," she murmured, being sure to speak quieter, "The greasiest thing I could think to make, complete with the strongest coffee uncle's dying maker could muster, and two tablets for the hangover."

He reached out and grabbed her hand off his shoulder as she moved to go back and make her own breakfast, "Have I told you that you're my favorite sister lately?" he smiled at her in thanks for her consideration…and how well she knew him that she knew he'd drink enough last night to be hungover this morning.

"I'm your ONLY sister," she rolled her eyes at him.

"Thank you, Mia," he told her, genuine, "Really."

She nodded, leaning over to press a kiss to the top of his head and went back to making her meal. It was funny, the two of them, half the time Merlin pulled the over protective brother role, and it was fitting, because he was the elder of the two. But other times it felt more like SHE was the older sister, taking care of him. He'd always been quieter, more withdrawn than she was. Where he would hold his tongue if someone upset him, she would likely smack them and give them a proper shout.

And then it would fall to him to fulfill his big brother role and drag her away or keep someone else from trying to smack her in return.

"It was nice of Gwen to invite us last night," she remarked, cooking more eggs on the pan.

"Yeah," Merlin murmured after taking a long sip of coffee, grimacing at the taste but drinking it nonetheless, "That's Gwen though, she's lovely."

"Oh," Maria smirked, "More lovely than say…a certain Miss Pendragon?"

"Mia," Merlin blushed at that, "Leave off."

"Oh, come on Merlin," Maria smiled, taking the eggs off the pan and moving to sit before him, a bit of toast on the side, "I have never seen you fancy someone as much as you do Morgan."

"I don't fancy her," he muttered, shoveling the breakfast sandwich his sister had made into his mouth in an effort to not talk about it.

"Really?" and there went the eyebrow again, "So you didn't enjoy dancing with her last night then?"

Merlin narrowed his eyes at her for bringing that up. After his second (or third) pint, he may have been just drunk enough to ask Morgan to dance with him but sober enough to not make a complete and utter fool out of himself. He wasn't quite sure he'd managed that last one, but Morgan had been smiling the entire time, she seemed happy, and that was what mattered.

And really, he probably wouldn't mind making a fool of himself if it would get her to smile and laugh…

Oh dear god, he really DID fancy her didn't he?

He groaned at that, letting his head fall forward to hit the table, surprising his sister with his reaction, "I fancy her."

"I knew it," she laughed, reaching out to poke him, "You don't dance the way YOU were with someone you don't fancy," she teased.

It had been…quite the sight to see her usually timid brother being so close with another woman on the dance area of the little pub. She honestly hadn't known that her brother could dance like that but she supposed Morgan had taken the lead a little bit. That was another thing she noticed, Morgan hadn't danced with anyone else but Merlin that night. Other blokes had asked her, but she'd stuck with Gwen, or had her join them, and never accepted other offers to dance. If she didn't know any better, she might have said that Morgan had been waiting for Merlin to ask her to dance.

And the look of absolute murder on Arthur's face had been worth it to have to endure seeing her brother dancing a bit intimately with someone.

She could at least take comfort in the knowledge that Arthur likely had a worse hangover than her brother did right now, he'd started to knock back a few drinks after seeing his sister dancing.

Her smile slowly fell off her face as she saw Merlin shaking his head, not eating, "Merlin, what's wrong?"

"I fancy Morgan," he muttered into the table.

"Yeah…you said that already, why are you all…this?" she gestured at him even if he wasn't looking.

He pulled his head up, resting his chin on the table to look at her, "I fancy Morgan, I fancy my boss's sister…he's either going to murder me for it or fire me."

Maria rolled her eyes at that, "Arthur has no idea, and even if he did, so long as it remains professional at the company I don't think he can actually do any of that. And it's not like he can really fire you for dancing with someone from the company, HE danced with me too remember?"

Merlin's face scrunched up in disgust as he put his head on the table again, "Don't remind me."

Maria shook her head, "We weren't nearly as bad as you and Morgan were," she defended, though there was a faint blush to her cheeks that her brother couldn't see as he'd resumed staring at the wood instead of her.

Really, though, she and Arthur hadn't been anything spectacular, it had been a more sedate dance, nothing as fast paced as with Merlin and Morgan, it was more the two of them swaying and trying to talk above the loud music…

Which reminded her, they had to be at the office earlier than normal today, Arthur wanted to start her 'training' which she was sure was just code for giving her a long list of things to do at her desk and prod and goad her all day after that. She would be willing to bet he'd make her fetch his lunch for him too…or maybe that would be Merlin's job as he was now exclusively the personal assistant while she was more to handle his calls and calendar.

"Come on," she reached out to nudge her brother, "You've got to finish eating, we need to leave soon."

Merlin just shook his head into the table.

"Alright," she shrugged, "Food to waste then…" she reached out to take his plate, only for him to sit up quickly, pulling it back towards him with a mock-angry pout.

"My food," he muttered, picking up his breakfast sandwich once more and starting to eat while his sister got up and moved to the bathroom to ready for the day.

~8~

Maria almost smirked as she and Merlin stepped into Arthur's office bright and early that morning. Arthur, it seemed, had forgotten that, to ask THEM to come in early so he could get them both set up in their new roles, meant that HE had to get up just that early as well. He was hunched over his desk, his head in his hands, looking a little paler than he had just last night.

"Morning!" Maria chirped, perhaps a bit louder than necessary, but it was so enjoyable to see him wince and drag his head up from his hands to glare at her, clearly very hungover.

"Didn't I tell you to knock before entering?" he groaned, closing his eyes at the brightness of the room, not even able to hold the glare he'd tried to send to them for barging in.

"I have no idea, did you?" Maria smiled, "It's my first day here after all, how am I supposed to know what to do?"

"Merlin didn't tell you?" Arthur tried to glare at Merlin, but the effect was lost as the man seemed more put out that Merlin didn't appear to have as massive a hangover as he did.

"I thought YOU wanted us to come in so that I wouldn't muck it up," Merlin offered with a grin of his own, enjoying throwing Arthur's slightly drunken words back at the man. He'd insisted that Maria come in with him early so that HE could dictate what would be expected rather than leave it to Merlin to do.

Arthur nearly groaned again at the thought of having to train a second Merlin, but prayed that the man's sister was a little more adept than her brother was, "Fine," he muttered, waving his hand at two chairs set up before his desk, silently telling them to sit, "From now on, Merlin you will handle all my contacts, all my transport, making sure my briefcase has the necessary items in it, organizing for my means of operating the company. Maria, you will take and screen any calls to this office while also maintaining my schedule."

Maria frowned at that, "That's it?"

"Do you want MORE work?"

"No, I just meant, that doesn't seem like much for a personal assistant to do on top of their normal work. You REALLY need a separate secretary just to take on that?"

"I wouldn't if your brother wasn't so incompetent," Arthur deadpanned, clearly in a mood, before sighing and getting on with it, "Every Monday we have a small meeting," he told her, "The three of us, to discuss any events through the week. On Fridays, there is a meeting with my father to discuss the progress of the company. I expect, however, that if I have left for the day, that the next morning you provide me with a list of those calls I may have missed," he gave Maria a look, "Any changes in my schedule need to be confirmed through me first. You are also to provide information to Merlin about my schedule for the day so that he can keep me on track. And do tell me you're more adept at the computers than he is?"

Maria blinked, "Only slightly," she admitted, "Computers just seem to hate the both of us."

"Then print out my schedule for him, I don't care, I want to make sure it's maintained and maintained carefully. Any questions?"

"Nope," Maria shrugged, "Merlin?"

"No," he shook his head, it really wasn't much different than what he'd done before, save that he didn't have to answer the phones or maintain Arthur's god awful schedule, just keep him on track. Now, any screw-ups he could just blame on his sister.

It would be just like growing up in Ealdor all over again!

Arthur nodded and looked at them, "Well?" he asked as they just stared at him, "What's my itinerary for the day?"

"I've only just walked into this building," Maria shook her head, "I haven't even seen the computer with the schedule or anything like that, how am I supposed to know?'

Arthur closed his eyes and pinched his nose, "Merlin," he huffed, "Show her how the computers work."

"I thought you…" Merlin began to tease, but Arthur just glared at him, "Fine," he sighed, "Come on Mia…" he turned and led her out of the office, bringing her over to his computer to show her how it worked.

And if it took three tries to just get the computer booted, well…they'd have to call their computer department for why later…

~8~

Maria looked over, her mouth full of apple, when the door to the small employee only room opened in the middle of hers and Merlin's conversation about how they should properly split their bedroom up now that they were sharing as their uncle's flat was rather small, to see Arthur standing there, eyeing them disapprovingly.

"Well, what do we have here," Arthur frowned, "I come back from a meeting with my father to find neither my assistant nor my secretary at their stations…"

"It's lunch," Merlin shook his head, holding up his small bowl of soup, "We're on our break…"

Arthur didn't seem concerned with that at all, even though it actually was their break time, "I have a task for you, Merlin, an errand," he began, ignoring how Merlin rolled his eyes, "Father and I discussed over lunch what we should do with Mr. Valiant, as we've resolved his situation, there are now others to be dealt with. He's tasked me to inspect the rest of the padding and other training equipment for tampering. And that is where you come in, Merlin…"

"Ooh don't tell me I have to be your test subject while you examine all of them on me," Merlin nearly groaned.

"No," Arthur rolled his eyes at Merlin, "IF they were tampered with, you'd likely end up dead and we'd have yet another liability on our hands. No. You are to go to the production department and get a copy of all their files on our equipment, then bring them to me so I can conduct an audit to ensure they're being properly manufactured…"

"That doesn't sound too bad…"

"And bring me the prototypes for the new equipment in development to test out," Arthur smirked, "While you take detailed notes about them to file into a report and send back."

"Great," Merlin muttered.

"Have fun with that Merlin," Maria patted his arm, smirking.

"And YOU," Arthur grinned at her, "You are to accompany me on an errand of my own."

"What?" Maria blinked, "But I'm the secretary, I just sit here, at the desk, and answer the phone or call Merlin and tell him you're about to be late for something, where would I possibly have to go with you?"

"Shopping."

She stared at him a long while at that, "Shopping?"

"More specifically, clothing shopping."

She snorted at that, "Why, need a wider necklined shirt for your enormous head?"

"Hardly," Arthur crossed his arms, "If you are going to work for this company, and be seen in it, you must represent it," he eyed her attire.

Maria frowned and looked at her clothes, "What's wrong with this?"

She was wearing jeans with a tank top and a plaid shirt over it. She was the secretary for god's sake, she no one was actually going to see her save the people that actually came to meet with Arthur and, from what she saw, not many did. Who would care what she looked like when she was the one talking on the phone with them.

"I wouldn't know where to begin," he muttered distastefully, "Consider this an advance on your wages…"

"I wouldn't spend my wages on clothing," Maria cut in, "I'll not have you dock them just to get me clothing."

"Fine," he huffed, though he could understand that would be rather poor taste to designate what her first wage would be directed for, "Then consider it Pendragon Industries' investment in you."

She narrowed her eyes at him, "Did you do this for Merlin too?"

"No," Merlin seemed on the edge of smirking, knowing just how much his sister loathed shopping, "I actually had a few suits and work clothes stored away from interviews," he didn't have much, but enough to mix and match long enough to not be noticed how little he really had.

"And your father's going to be happy to know that you're wasting company funds on ME?" she scoffed, unable to imagine Mr. Pendragon giving a go ahead to that, "And aren't you supposed to be examining the equipment?"

"The equipment is locked away before and after every event and demonstration and class, there's no way Mr. Valiant would have been able to get to it. And besides, based on the evidence supplied to the hospital, he made his own device to administer the poison. I do have a handful of guards examining them to be sure, but it's all sorted…except for your wardrobe."

Maria shot Merlin a glare as he laughed behind his soup at her. But she huffed and stood, "Fine," she muttered, heading towards Arthur and pushing past him, "Let's get this over with Mr. Metrosexual."

"I heard that!" Arthur called as he followed her.

"You were meant to!" Maria huffed under her breath, which, for some reason, only made Arthur laugh, likely as he could tell she was getting more and more irritated as he went on.

~8~

For how unhappy Maria was to have had to go buy clothing just for work, she was smirking that widely to herself as she and Arthur made their way back to 'Camelot' an hour or so later. For as…spiffy…as Arthur dressed, he really had no fashion sense at all, had kept trying to get her to buy things in 'Camelot Red' as he called it, the color of the company's logo. She'd refused to budge on that just yet, and had stuck with colors she liked…which ended up being mostly black. She refused to let him see what the outfits were though he couldn't really deny buying them as he'd taken her to a store that sold only the most professional of clothing so it wasn't as though anything she bought wouldn't be fitting in the workplace.

Still, she was rather glad she'd managed to one up him in that regard.

But it hadn't even been the reason she was smiling now.

As they'd been leaving, as they were walking down the road towards the company, she'd seen this little boy across the street with four, much larger boys surrounding him, picking on him and shoving him. She'd instantly shoved the few pieces of clothing she'd agreed to buy into Arthur's arms and hurried across the street, likely nearly giving Arthur a heart attack when she'd not looked as she was going and nearly been hit by a car, but she'd gotten to the other side just fine, sent the boys off with a firm shoo and a glare and sat down with the little boy to make sure he was alright. He had been nearly in tears as she spoke to him, the poor little tyke. He was, apparently, the smallest in his year and the other boys loved to pick on him for it. There were usually three others that he spent time with, but the one boy was out sick, and the two girls, sisters, had already been picked up from school while he was left to wait for his mother to get him. It had broken her heart how scared the boy had been of the others and she'd found herself inviting the boy to come to Camelot one day and she would see if she could get one of the bodyguards in training, one of the 'knights' to volunteer to teach him a trick or two to defend himself. The smile that boy gave her had been worth the scolding Arthur tried to bestow upon her as they continued their walk, her not leaving till the boy's mother was in sight.

According to Arthur they couldn't just start giving away resources, not to toddlers (he was 8 Arthur, not a baby! She'd shouted), she had no right to make such an offer without permission from himself, that the boy shouldn't be given free lessons, and it wasn't like SHE would be able to teach the boy anything useful about defense. She'd just huffed and walked faster, forcing him to run to catch up and grab her arm, turning her to face him as he tried to be all strict.

So she'd just put it to him that the entire point of his company was to make people feel safe, wasn't it? That HE had seen a little boy being ganged up on and had just stood there, had been ready to walk past that boy and how on earth was that little boy going to grow up and trust Camelot if the owner of it didn't bother to protect him as a child? She may have poked him in the chest and asked him what age was too young to be taught how to protect yourself? They had so many lessons and demonstrations dedicated to adults and even teenagers, but nothing for children? Children, she'd said, of all the people in the world, need to be protected the most and, more often than not, they needed to be the ones protecting themselves, yet not one in Camelot bothered to try and do that, teach them, keep them safe.

Arthur had been speechless, which had been all the more reason to smirk to herself in quiet accomplishment. She doubted it was every day the man just gaped like fish at being put in his place.

The smirk, however, fell just a bit as she watched Arthur dealing out blow after blow to his 'knights' during their training. They were practicing with weapons, if a violent person managed to grab a pipe or crowbar or something, say during a riot or a break in, what would they do? How would they defend not just themselves but others? She honestly didn't even know why she was in the training room with Merlin to watch it all, she should have been in the office, manning the phones, but Arthur hadn't even let her head to the lift to go up and put her new purchases away, just said that there as only an hour left in the day and they didn't usually get calls that late, and it was her first day so she might as well see a little more about what Camelot was like, what the training was like instead of just the demonstrations.

So there she was, with Merlin beside her, watching the men basically beat at each other, though she could see a finesse to it, a method and a structure. They really were training, even if it seemed like they were just whaling on each other.

"Men!" Arthur called as they finished, glancing at the clock on the wall to see there was 15 minutes left of the day and the men would need to retire now, change out of their training clothing, "You've done well for this exercise. Call it a day," the men let out a little cheer at that, "Merlin," Arthur called the boy over, Maria frowning and going with him, "The men have put in a hard day's work, so why don't you help out a bit and pick up the practice equipment."

Merlin let out a huff at that, but he had to admit, compared to the knights, he did have a relatively easy day…if you counted lugging armfuls of equipment from the production department up to Arthur's office easy…which was probably still fairly easy from what the men went through, "Yes sir," he sighed.

"I'll help," Maria offered, earning a thankful smile from her brother and the two of them went about gathering up the equipment that the men had dropped in their excitement to be let go to get ready for after work an extra few minutes early. There were still a few stragglers, men wanting to talk to Arthur for a moment, so they just went about their business.

She had just reached for one of the pieces, when a hand caught her wrist and stopped her, "You should be careful," the man declared, "Weapons aren't for little girls to play with."

"Neither are girls meant for men to play with either," she muttered to herself.

The man's brown eyes narrowed at her, his red hair dripping sweat into his eyes, shaking some of it at her as he moved, "What was that?"

"Nothing," she forced a smile, yanking her hand away from him, and turning to pick up the stick, but the man grabbed it instead, "Sir, I'm just trying to do my job, can I have that?" she held out a hand for it.

But the man smirked, making a scar running from his cheek to his ear appear more prominent, "If you want it, take it."

She pursed her lips at that, already knowing this game, he'd try to keep it out of her grip, hold it above her, hold it to her but snatch it back, anything to humiliate her. Well she wasn't going to play that game. She had an older brother, she knew those tricks!

So she reached out with her right hand, trying to swipe at the stick from the right…and when the man moved to jerk his hand back to the left, she grabbed it with her left hand, smirking in victory.

"That was not smart," the man glared. She just turned and went to collect the rest of the sticks, "Oi!" he shouted, "I'm talking to you!"

"Well I don't get paid enough to listen," she shot back, not really caring if she got fired. It was her first day, she had no idea what she was even meant to do in the company, it wasn't like she even wanted this job and if that man was going to be harassing her, she was NOT going to stand for it! In a company built to make people feel safe, that man did not fulfill that motto.

"Give that back then," the man stepped after her.

"It's not yours," she argued, "It belongs to the company. If you want it, YOU take it then."

The man snorted at that, now amused, "As though that would be a challenge."

Maria narrowed her eyes at him, "I'm stronger than I look."

The man took one more step towards her when Arthur's voice cut through the tension, "Murphy, back down," he ordered the man, "She's new here, she doesn't know her place yet."

Maria almost wished that the practice stick in her hand had been a knife or a sword or something, she would have thrown it right at Arthur for that remark, 'know her place?' She was going to kill him, she was sure of it. Why hadn't she let Mr. Valiant kill him again?

"Well then maybe someone ought to teach her where that is," Murphy spat.

"I'd like to see you try," Maria challenged.

"Maria!" Merlin shouted, moving over to his sister's side, "Look, just leave it," he muttered to her, "It's not worth it. It's not worth getting fired over one wanker."

Maria's jaw clenched at that, but she turned to let her brother tug her off.

And then Murphy just had to let out a booming laugh, "And there she goes, a little twat walking away."

"Maria don't!" Merlin tried to stop her, but she'd already turned and thrown the practice piece in her hand right at Murphy, striking him half in the shoulder, half in the side of the face, making him turn a murderous look at her, but she'd already turned to keep walking away with her brother, "Maria!"

That was all the warning she had, her brother shouting her name, and Arthur shouting Murphy's, before she felt a weight settle on her back, half knocking her off her feet, hands and arms winding around her from behind as Murphy attacked her.

She honestly didn't know what it was, she didn't know what had triggered it or how she'd even thought to do it, but the next thing she knew, Murphy was flying over her shoulder as she hauled him over herself, using his momentum to send him slamming onto his back, the wind knocked out of him from her unexpected defense, using his moment of surprise to drop down, pressing her knee to his neck, grabbing one of the pieces she'd dropped in the attack to slam it down on a very sensitive area of his anatomy, causing him to try and grunt in pain, curling his legs up and reaching for that area with one hand while the other tried to pull her knee off his windpipe.

She actually started to think he wouldn't manage to shift her till someone behind her pulled her away from Murphy and into his arms, instantly causing her to relax as she felt her brother hugging her from behind.

"Murphy!" Arthur nearly roared as two other men hefted the coughing, groaning man to his feet, "Have you lost your mind!?"

"I want her arrested!" Murphy pointed at Maria, glaring at her, "She attacked me!"

"She defended herself from YOUR attack!" Arthur glared at the man in return, shoving him back as he moved in between his sight and Maria's, "What were you thinking? We do not attack civilians, we protect them!" he shook his head, "Get him out of my sight," he sneered at the man, "And be sure my father shall be hearing a report of this," he spat as Murphy was dragged out of the room. Arthur took a breath and turned to see Maria in Merlin's arms, the girl looking far too small and pale for him to feel comfortable. He walked over to her, "I am so sorry for that," he apologized, "If I had known Murphy would react like that, he never would have taken a single step towards you."

"I did attack him first," Maria muttered, watching the man go, now that the adrenaline was wearing off, she was shaking, "I threw the equipment at him."

"He wanted it back," Merlin defended, "He demanded it, so you gave it to him."

"And he put his hands on you first," Arthur agreed, "I saw him grab your wrist. I was about to stop him then when he let go. I should have stopped him before he touched you a second time," he shook his head, realizing that Maria was still shaking a bit, "Merlin, why don't you take your sister to Gus, see if she's alright, maybe get her a cup of tea…"

"Yeah," Merlin nodded, "Yeah, thanks," he offered Arthur a smile before turning to lead his sister off.

~8~

Arthur honestly wasn't expecting to see Maria the next day at work, not after what Murphy had done to her. Unfortunately his father had taken the man's word that Maria attacked him first with the practice piece and he was defending himself, though the fact he had attacked while her back was turned had been enough for his father to suspending him from the facility for a few weeks at least, to make a show of not tolerating physical attacks. He didn't expect Maria to return after being attacked in the building, according to Gus, Maria and Merlin had come to him to just make sure she hadn't strained anything from flipping Murphy over her, but that they'd left quickly with Maria still shaken from the event.

"Maria!" he blinked as she entered his office, him able to see Merlin in the outer office, through the glass door, getting everything set up for the day, but leaving his sister to speak to him herself it appeared, "You're here."

Maria eyed him, "Did you get hit in the head with one of those sword things?" she asked, "Of course I'm here. You DID give me a job…"

"I just…" he shook his head, "I thought, after Murphy…"

"He attacked me, I defended myself," she began, cutting into his words gently, sounding almost thoughtful, "I wouldn't have been able to do that before coming here," she glanced at him, "Gwen was teaching Merlin a trick or two, and I was watching, I was paying attention to your demonstration too. I guess it sunk in," she let out a bit of an uncomfortable laugh, "And it helped me. If I hadn't known what to do from the lessons that you teach HERE…" she shrugged, "He probably would have hurt me instead of the other way around. I mean, it probably helped that he seemed to think I was some stupid, little weakling," she tried to laugh at that, "He underestimated me, I suppose. But...it really was you and Gwen. So…I dunno, might be a good thing to stick around a bit more, see what else I can learn."

He nodded, smiling at that, inordinately pleased that their teachings had been able to help her, even if it was against one of their own, "Speaking of learning and lessons," he stood, moving around his desk to lean on the side of it, facing her, "I spoke with my father, well, with my sister first, and we both broached the subject of branching out or lessons and demonstrations to…younger clients. Children, specifically," he watched as her eyes widened, knowing where this was going, "You were right," he admitted, "Children need to be protected and they need to know how to protect themselves. Morgan's very up with the predictive areas, and Gwen is very good with children. They've both agreed to do a trial program, like a…camp or sorts, here, for the children, to see how they might do, teach them ways to keep safe. She's um," he let out a soft laugh, "She's actually got so many sign ups she's got a waiting list," he looked at her, "I thought that it might make us a better company, to care about all clients, regardless of age and I know it's a very tentative program, really a trial run so far, but if it does well, then we may create more branches and levels, make it more affordable, maybe even free, and the children will be able to feel safe and…"

He was cut off suddenly by Maria half leaping at him, hugging him tightly. He froze for just a second, before he slowly wrapped his arms around her, his arms just starting to rest on her back when Maria seemed to realize what she'd done and half jumped back from him just as quickly, looking away from him as he did the same, a faint blush on her cheeks.

She took a breath after a moment, "Thank you."

He cleared his throat, making himself look over at her, "For what?"

"For caring?" she shrugged, "For listening to a simple employee? You took a remark and you considered it and…that means a lot. You're implementing something to help other people, people that probably can't even pay much, and doing something to make them feel safe even if it may not benefit you much later…I think," she smiled at him a bit, "If you keep up with that, considering others and their opinions, you'll be a remarkable head of the company when the time comes. I think Camelot will be better for it."

Arthur blinked at that, "Thank you Mari, I…"

"Mari?" she raised an eyebrow at that, feeling like the semi-touching moment was gone now with that rather ridiculous shortening of her name.

"Um, yes," he coughed slightly, seeming embarrassed to have been caught out letting that nickname slip, "I just…it's…it's shorter?"

She nearly laughed at that, it was one letter shorter. Though she had to admit, Arthur was the first person to ever think to call her Mari. Perhaps it was a testament to how truly lazy he was that he felt the need to cut that last letter off, that he couldn't be bothered to say her full name. Whatever it was, whatever the reason…it WAS interesting a name. Though she doubted anyone else would take to calling her that. Most preferred just a simple 'Ria.'

Arthur cleared his throat again, "Well, I just wanted to…thank you," he added, "I can admit I wouldn't have thought to try and focus on children if you hadn't gone to see if that child was alright," he frowned at that, "Something I SHOULD have done as well," he looked up at her, "Something I will try to make up for now."

Maria nodded at that, smiling lightly at that, before she seemed to realize that she still had a paper in her hand that she'd entered with, "I have the calls, from yesterday, before you whisked me away to waste money on…this…" she gestured in distaste at her attire, simple black trousers and a white blouse, nothing too spectacular.

Arthur eyed her thought, "It…looks good," he offered, holding out a hand to take the paper, "A truly good investment," he very nearly teased but just barely managed to keep it sounding professional.

She gave him an amused look for that before she turned and walked out of his office, back to her brother to speak to him, unable to help but frown a bit as he watched her, a curious expression on his face.

Mari.

Why had he called her that?

There was no reason to do it, but…then again, there was no reason to have a secretary and a PA when Merlin was technically capable of doing both jobs. It wasn't like they couldn't afford wages for both, it wasn't like it would be too difficult to manage two 'assistants' but he hadn't needed them.

It…it really just slipped out, in the middle of it, he'd just…gotten this wave of d _éjà vu_ and, before he knew it, he was offering her a position.

He didn't know what it was but those two, Merlin and Maria Emrys, they just seemed…familiar…

He shook his head, no, that was ridiculous, he'd remember someone as gangly and clumsy as Merlin, someone as brash and beautiful as Maria. He straightened at that last thought, beautiful? Maria? Hardly, no, no she wasn't, not at all. She was… _fair_ to look at, he supposed, if he squinted, but she wasn't any great beauty. Not like his Sophie.

He smiled at that, perhaps he should take his girlfriend out to lunch, yes…that sounded like an excellent plan.

A/N: I'm so sorry there was an update missing last week :( A few interviews came up that I wasn't expecting and it cut into my editing time, and my sister's dog also ended up jumping off our stairs and hurt herself and it was just a messy few days :( I've promised myself though that if I ever miss a week here or there with posting, I will NOT miss 2 in a row ;)

I hope you enjoyed this chapter, I was trying to make Maria a little less skilled than Marayna was with her sais, but really make it something that Camelot taught her how to do to defend herself, give her another reason to stick around ;)

I'm so glad that you're all excited for the story! ^-^

Some notes on reviews...

I can say we'll find out what Merlin's full name is very soon yup ;)

There will be a bit of past life mentions coming up yup ;) Especially from a few surprising characters ;) Whether others will believe it is another thing though lol :) And thank you, we're very relieved and happy he's doing well too :) I'm SO happy to be back to updating ^-^

Yup, Killian looks like John Hurt ;) I'm going to try and make each chapter relate to the same chapter of the original series, so we'll have the extra original chapters in between episode chapters for the most part :) Lol, actually the reference to Queen Clorinda isn't a tease to the Robin/OC story I have planned, but to Once Upon a Time :) Around the Season 3 finale, I got a few posts on tumblr about how Robin should stay with Marian instead of Regina because that's how the legend goes, Robin Hood and Maid Marian. My argument was that, because it's a legend, there ARE many versions of the Robin Hood legend and if you want to use the legend as an excuse for events to happen, then you also have to accept that Marian might die (because she does in some versions of the legend as did the woman Marian was based on in a historical sense), that Robin had every right to move on to Marian's 'successor' (because in some versions of the legend Robin is the one to die and Marian moves on to his successor), or even that Robin should be with Regina instead, because in some versions of the legend Robin's true love is the Queen of the Shepherdesses. You can't say that, because the legend says one thing, it's your excuse for it to happen...when there are many different versions of legends out there from which to pick what ought to happen or not :) You can't use one and disregard the possibility of the others :) So that was more me sneaking in a reference to OUAT than the BBC's Robin Hood story I'll be doing ;) But I'm SO glad you're enjoying this story and Claire's so far ^-^

Thank you! I went back and changed the cookies ;)

Actually, there are many types of flashovers ;) The one for this story is a Rich Flashover, which is an event similar to a backdraft and often causes a backdraft ;) My brother helped me pick the term, he's recently been through fire-fighter training, and my father also described the event I was searching for as a Flashover, which is fire springing to life, and he's been a fire-fighter for over 30 years, they both really know fire ;)

Thanks! I fixed the sheriff's station ;)

I mentioned it in the first A/N ;) This story will be updated every Wednesday (as best I can manage ;))

Yup, Killian is Kilgarrah :) There will be some talk of their past lives yup, but I won't say if they'll believe it or not just yet ;) Lol, I was debating the Marayna or Maria name, but it just felt too funny and ironic an opportunity to pass up given how many people mispronounced her name as 'Maria' in the original story :) I tried to change the names that sounded old-fashioned into more modern names. Like Morgause will be changed, Annis might become Anne, etc. I decided to drop the 'a' from Morgana mostly because one of my cousin's, her niece is named Morgan and she reminds me SO much of Morgana it's almost scary lol :) It's mostly the main stories that I like to have finished within a year :) As this is just the sequel and meant to be one very long retelling of the original series, I'm more ok with it going longer than a year :) But yup, we'll have over 2 years worth of the story :)

Oh Gwaine will HAVE to appear! :) Though I can say he may pop up earlier than in the show ;)

Morgan just might have done some hacking ;) ;)


	3. Code Name: Nimueh

A/N: **I'M BACK!** And I'm so sorry if I worried/scared anyone with the lack of presence online :'( Things went from calming to completely crazy shortly after I posted on tumblr my plans to return Mid-September. My sister moved out, my dad got a pneumonia, I quit my job, got a new job, started Master's courses online, began a tiny candle 'company' for supplemental income, got a tutoring position, and it's just been insane.

But I am back now! There will be a few changes to when I'll post my normal stories as well as this one, there's more in the ending A/N but I also have a more detailed schedule on tumblr about it too.

I want to say again how sorry I am that this took so long, but I am officially back and ready to go, and I hope you all enjoy this chapter!

~8~

Code Name: Nimueh

Maria was quite certain that it was NOT in her job description as Arthur's secretary to be assisting her uncle in his medical practice at Camelot. Nor, she was sure, was it in Merlin's either, but there they both were, standing on either side of a body lying on a bed in their uncle's office as they waited for an ambulance. It was a young boy, his face pocked from acne, his hair short and curly, a pair of very large glasses resting on the small table beside him. He was one of the younger employees, new, starting off at the lower rungs of the company by helping in their post room, sorting the different letters and such to be taken to different areas of the company.

What was startling about him was that he was quite deathly pale, the blue of his veins starting to look more prominent, almost rising a bit from his skin, with a film growing across his eyes.

He had been found early that morning by one of the caretakers, the young boy almost seeming to have slept at the company for the night, till he'd realized the boy was ill and carried him right to Gus. The timing had been in their favor, Gus has just been arriving, the company just starting to fill with the bright and early workers, lucky as it was that no one had truly seen the boy or known he was ill, it would have caused panic. It had been unlucky for Merlin and Maria though that they had arrived with their uncle this time and been pulled into the entire mess to start with. Though, again, it had been lucky that they had been there too, Gwen had just arrived to set up some files for Morgan, a small bundle of flowers in her hand, something she used to give Morgan's office a lighter feel, and nearly seen the body had the two of them not blocked her sight of it.

Maria had gotten a free little baby's breath stem out of it, quickly tucking it behind her ear before following her brother off with their Uncle.

"What could it be?" Merlin frowned as he looked at the boy struggling to breathe, sweat starting to form on his forehead.

"I can't be sure till I've done a more thorough examination," Gus shook his head, though he looked deeply troubled.

"You are a _terrible_ liar, Uncle," Maria pointed out, "You have a guess, at the very least, what it could be. Don't you?"

"It's not the plague is it?" Merlin shifted uncomfortably at that, "Like that Black Death thing?"

"If it was, I think his veins would be black," Maria remarked, her brother was a bit of a germaphobe, not in the sense that he would sanitize everything but more that he hated the idea of being ill. She was honestly surprised he'd lasted so long in the room with the boy given that. Though she could guess it was their uncle that had reassured him he would be alright, their uncle wouldn't risk being around such a body without a protective facial mask if he thought it was contagious.

"Not funny, Mia," Merlin grumbled.

"Nothing like that, no," Gus murmured, leaning over to peer closer at the body, moving to the boy's elbow to take a blood sample to examine once the ambulance he had called for the boy arrived and took him to Albion Hospital for more extensive treatment and likely quarantine, "I have never _seen_ something like this, but…"

"But?" Merlin shook his head as the man cut himself off.

Gus sighed and leaned back, turning to face his niece and nephew, "I should not be telling you this," he gave them a pointed look, warning them not to DARE breathe a word of this to anyone else, "But Pendragon Security deals in more than just protective details and…"

"Biological warfare," both Merlin and Maria cut in, startling their Uncle.

"Really, Uncle, did you truly think I wouldn't look into the company at length before I started here?" Merlin smirked, he'd done a hack before he officially started as Arthur's assistant. He knew practically every area that Pendragon Security had ventured into, from their weapons to training to even the chemical and biological aspects they were researching and developing.

"We know they have a, um, 'secure' branch of the company dedicated to working with poisons and viruses," Maria nodded.

"How did you…" Gus shook his head, frowning as he closed his eyes, he should have known, "Never mind, don't say another word," he glanced up at the security cameras, hoping that nothing had been picked up that was too incriminating. It wasn't well known that Pendragon Security had ventured down that road, it was more a rumor than anything, but still, no one outside a select few in the company knew just how far into researching the company had gone.

"You think this might be something they were working on?" Merlin continued.

"I can't be certain," Gus reasoned, "I have access to that research as the medical director here, but I can't recall seeing anything like this in them. At least not in recent years. It DOES seem familiar though..."

"But…it IS some sort of bio-warfare?" Maria frowned at that, "Cos if it is and it's from here…how did it get out?"

Before Gus could answer, there was a banging on the door, Arthur's voice shouting through it for the two of them.

Maria huffed and strode over to it, opening it just enough to speak to Arthur but not let him see into the room, "What?" she demanded.

Arthur narrowed his eyes at her tone, "You're late, the BOTH of you," he glanced up at Merlin.

"We're HERE, aren't we?" Maria shook her head, "We're in the building, we're working, how are we late?"

"You're not at your sta…has someone given you flowers?"

Maria blinked at the 180 Arthur had done, likely about to reprimand them for not being in his office at their stations, to fixating on the little blossoms behind her ear. The ridiculousness of it all made her roll her eyes, "Yes, someone has. A very lovely someone, kind, considerate, polite, quite something, we're going to lunch later."

Arthur's eyes widened at that, absolutely refusing to allow the anger and irrational jealousy to rise in him, because he WASN'T feeling that, not at all, he had a girlfriend, Maria could have lunch and spend it with whoever she wanted, she could get flowers from whoever she wanted…even if those flowers were a sorry excuse for the name and any woman should be given more than that to prove they were appreciated and…

He shook his head at that, opening his mouth to respond, but not seeming able to formulate one, closing his mouth and opening it over and over.

"She's having lunch with Gwen," Merlin called, taking pity on the man, "Gwen gave her the flower."

Arthur nearly punched himself for falling for that. Maria hadn't said it was a man that gave her the flower, and really, Gwen was ALWAYS bringing in flowers to brighten up Morgan's office, it should have clicked in his head. But it hadn't. For some reason unknown to him. Perhaps he was still a little hung over from that night at the pub a few days ago…

"Just tell Gus that my father requires him in his office," was all Arthur said before he turned and stalked off.

Maria shook her head at him and turned back to her uncle, shutting the door, "Mr. Pendragon requires you in his office, Uncle, in case you didn't hear," she narrowed her eyes when she saw him appearing to be chuckling and shaking his head, "What?"

"Nothing," he replied, "It's just, in all my time here, I've never seen Arthur appear jealous before."

"Jealous? Of what?"

"Oh, Mia…" Merlin laughed at her.

"What?" she crossed her arms, "I don't get it," but both men remained silent, "Fine, don't tell me then. Come on Merlin, we have 'work' to do."

Merlin just kept laughing as he followed his sister out of the room, till she elbowed him in the stomach for it down the hall.

~8~

Gwen blinked as she heard a change in the noise of Morgan's office, to look up from where she was jotting down a list of tasks for the day, to see that Morgan, who had been diligently typing away on her computer, has stopped. She almost called out to ask what was wrong, when she caught sight of just what was very much right.

Morgan was looking out the door of her office, a large section of it and a portion of the wall to the left and right of it was glass, giving her a clear view of the hallway. There was a smile on her face that told Gwen exactly who Morgan had caught sight of, who was about to pass by before she actually saw him.

Merlin, laughing with his sister, as they headed for Arthur's office.

It never failed to amuse her, how Morgan, the most focused and dedicated woman she knew, could grow just a little more distracted when Merlin was around. She'd known Morgan almost her whole life, and she'd never seen the woman give the attention she did Merlin to anyone else. She was smitten, Morgan was SO smitten, she knew it. But both of them seemed to be a little more shy around the other than normal, they'd never admit it or act on it and it just made her all the more determined to both tease her friend and help her out.

"You look happy," she remarked, glancing back down at her task list and continuing it, hiding her smile at how Morgan had jumped at her voice.

"What?" Morgan looked over at her, clearing her throat and looking for all the world like she was hoping she wasn't blushing, "I mean, yes, I am, the flowers are lovely Gwen, thank you."

Gwen almost sighed at how Morgan was purposefully ignoring the point in her remark, but gave her friend a pass this time in picking up with the flowers, "I thought they would cheer you up," she glanced at Morgan again, "I know you've been having trouble sleeping lately."

If the bags that were under Morgan's eyes whenever she arrived to find the woman trying to use coverup on them was anything to go by that is.

"Well they did," Morgan smiled.

Gwen raised an eyebrow at the sight of it, she knew there was an even bigger, brighter, more genuine smile that the woman could give, but that particular one seemed reserved for one man recently. And really, Morgan had given her FAR too tempting an in to pass up this time, so she carefully waited till the woman moved to take a sip of the chamomile tea resting on her desk to add, "Not as much as Merlin does though, I guess?"

And then tried her level best not to die of laughter when Morgan choked on her tea and glared at her, her face burning red for the remark.

~8~

Merlin was quite sure that he and his sister had ended up visiting a hospital more times now that they worked at Camelot than they ever had in their time growing up. He and Maria stood outside a hospital room during their lunch break, waiting for their uncle to get out of his protective suit to speak to them. As it turned out, the reason Mr. Pendragon had needed their uncle so urgently, was that his own assistant had collapsed in his office, of the very same thing that the young post boy had, pale skin, blue veins, cloudy eyes. Both men had been taking to Albion Hospital, though only one remained in the quarantine room they were standing outside of. The post boy had died in transit to the hospital, but Mr. Pendragon's assistant was still alive so far, but he appeared to truly be struggling to hold on.

From what they knew, from what their uncle had quickly told them about the situation when they arrived, was that it did appear to be a plague of sorts, but how it was spreading he didn't know. He had had to report to Mr. Pendragon about the first case, about how quickly the virus had manifested. He had kept one thing quiet though. He had researched the symptoms and searched through Pendragon Security for anything that they might have worked on that was similar to the case presented, because it made sense that something INSIDE Camelot had to be tainted for two employees to fall victim to it and no one outside the company. He had found something, from decades ago though, old research kept in an archived file about just such a virus. It had been initially tested, created by crossing some obscure remnants of three different plagues, but had been halted as the researchers hadn't felt confident they could create an antidote back then.

Somehow, someone had hacked into the system and discovered the virus, had managed to replicate it and plant it in Camelot.

He hadn't breathed a word of that suspicion to Mr. Pendragon, but the man had seemed to come to the same conclusion regardless. He'd begun raging about spies and hackers and breaches in security and ranting about punishment. He had heightened security, was ordering a full sweep of the company as well as for the researchers in the testing labs to be brought in to run tests on the post room as well as his office, and many other areas of the company to try and locate the source of the infection before more people fell victim to it.

The only good thing that had come from that was Arthur was in charge of it all, he was to be dedicated to this breach in security first and foremost, which meant cancelling all his meetings and other duties for as long as necessary, making their jobs rather pointless at the moment. So they had decided to see their uncle at the hospital and offer their help if they could.

"Uncle?" Maria called as Gus managed to step out of the sanitizing station between the quarantine room and the hallway, "Are you alright?"

Gus just shook his head, "This is getting worse," he told them quietly, glancing into the room, "Before you arrived, two more employees were brought in."

"All with the same symptoms?" Merlin frowned, earning a nod from Gus. He sighed, "Why would someone do this?" he muttered, "I mean, what do they get out of it, hacking the system just to hurt people?"

"Maybe they just want to destroy Camelot's reputation?" Maria shrugged, not liking the idea of going about it that way, "Think about it, if the place that meant to be the most secure and make other homes safe, can be hacked into and poisoned, then they aren't really secure or safe at all."

"And kill innocent people in the process."

"Have the Doctors been able to find a cure?" Maria turned to her uncle. It was protocol, she'd assume, that the files with the virus components be given to the hospital, and copies sent to the labs, to try and create an antivirus.

"Not as of yet," Gus sighed, rubbing his forehead, "There is nothing more that can be done but to wait and hope."

"There might be something WE can do," Merlin glanced around before lowering his voice, "Uncle, if we hack…"

"No," Gus cut him off, a firm note in his voice, "This all started because someone hacked into Pendragon Security, they'll be watching even more closely for anyone trying the same. With the investigations going on, everyone will be suspects, this is NOT the time to be hacking into anything," he glanced behind him and back to his family, "And if I were you, I would clean out the records on your laptops as well."

Maria sighed as he turned and strode away to speak to another set of Doctors. Her uncle was a hacker, way back in the day, when computers first came out, but he'd fallen out of interest with it, or so he claimed. They tended to think it was because he'd given it up when he started at Pendragon Security, not wanting to risk himself in carrying on his hobby. He must have been very rusty because, if he wasn't, he would have known that the first rule was to always make sure the evidence of your hack was off your computer. Both of them had systems in place that, just turning off their computers triggered a failsafe that made it appear their systems were wiped and left with just the basic and boring files everyone would have. At a glance that is. If Arthur ever tried to look at their laptops, he'd find files of videos of people being pranked on Merlin's laptop and kittens on her files. They doubted he'd bother to consider them hackers, especially with their abysmal luck just getting the computers at work to stay on long enough to get anything done. He'd take one look at their files and wave the rest off, never knowing that, behind the smokescreen was all their programs and hacks and encryptions.

"We could _help_ though," Merlin sighed, looking to his sister, knowing she would understand.

"I know," she agreed, "Just one hack into the system, find the file that started all this, and then trace any prior access to that back to the original hacker and we'd have this all sorted out. They wouldn't be stupid enough to create a virus like this if they couldn't be sure they would be safe from it. They HAVE to have a cure already made."

"I know," Merlin nodded, looking up and down the hall, "Come on, if nothing's changed by tomorrow, we'll see what we can do."

~8~

Good news and bad news always seemed to arrive together, Merlin thought, as he sat in Gus's flat with his sister, the two of them on their laptops, just staring at the screens. They had gotten some good news earlier that morning, the doctors had managed to find out how the virus was spreading. Someone had contaminated the water in Camelot's building. The post boy and Mr. Pendragon's assistant had both drunk the water. The boy had been the last to leave for the day while Mr. Pendragon's assistant had been the first to arrive, both had used the water fountains in the building. Which explained why many other people of varying positions had also come down with the virus. The higher ups in the company hardly ever used the facility's cafeteria, eating out instead, while some of the lower workers, those that didn't bag their lunch, ate there so it wasn't the food. The water, though, was something everyone shared, even those that used bottled water would, at times, stop for a quick sip.

It wasn't news that a cure had been found, but it was a way to have the systems replaced, the water filtered, and the fountains closed down so no one else would fall ill.

Of course, as the good news came, the worst news followed from Gwen herself. Her father, who worked in the prototypes division, helping to build the practice weapons and even the real weapons, had fallen ill as well. They had seen her as they had been leaving the hospital only hours ago, the girl in tears as her father was wheeled in on a stretcher, knowing that, within 24 hours, he would be dead. She had seen Gus and begged for him to do something, to use his medical knowledge to find some cure, but he couldn't. Morgan had arrived shortly after, holding her friend as she sobbed for her father, the only family she had left after her mother passed and her brother moved away.

Merlin clenched his hands into fists at the reminder of Gwen's tear-streaked face, and looked at his sister, "Ready?"

She glanced at him, nodding, "Ready."

And, with that, the two of them quickly got to work, hacking into Pendragon Security one more time.

It was a two part plan, really. Maria was set to focus on finding the file about the virus, breaking through the numerous levels of encryption and security that was bound to be all over it, in order to find any evidence of the hack that started it all. She had always been better at breaking into the systems, especially the ones she wasn't familiar with, she liked the challenge of being able to fight her way in. Merlin, on the other hand, was better at tracking and tracing, even more so at building his own firewalls and hack-prevention software to keep their computers safe. Once she found the file, it would be his job to trace it back to the original computer that had gotten to the virus.

Once they found out what the other computer was, it would be Maria's job, once more, to hack into it, to find the file with the antidote to the virus, and Merlin's to extract it before sending the information to the doctors.

And when they did that, well, they supposed it was a three-part plan really. Once they were sure they'd gotten the antidote, they were going to destroy the hacker's computer and files, make sure that they couldn't hack into Pendragon Security again for quite some time.

They just had to be very careful, very very careful, because Gus was right, the security HAD been heightened and the computer experts at Camelot would be waiting and watching for anyone attempting to get in.

It was a good thing they'd spent their lives working on their skills, no one had caught them yet.

~8~

Maria just barely managed to stifle a yawn as she and Merlin blearily made their way into Camelot the next morning. It had been…a long night, to put it lightly. It had taken them forever to get through Camelot's security without triggering alarms and then trace the first hack to someone's computer and get the antidote from it as well. It had been very frustrating as well because, once they were in the other computer, it was made all too clear that the hacker was skilled. They were hoping to find personal information about them, anything they could to track them down and report them to the authorities, but they should have expected to find nothing. There was nothing on their own laptops that could be traced to them either, hackers made sure to cover their tracks.

They HAD managed to find two things though. The hacker in question, while they hadn't discovered their real name (or they didn't think it was a real name), seemed to go by a codename 'Nimueh.' They also found the file they were looking for designated 'Afanc,' containing both the original virus plans and the antivirus. It was an odd word, but it made sense. No one would ever title an incriminating document as 'Virus for Pendragon Security.'

They'd hacked into the hospital's systems soon after, sending them the cure to the virus, and went back to wipe out Nimueh's computer. If it had happened to them, they would be beyond furious to have all their work just destroyed…but then again THEY had never used their skills to kill people like this Nimueh person was. They deserved it.

Still, it had taken the majority of the night and they were completely knackered, but they still had work. Now that they knew where the source of the virus had come from, Arthur's focus could relax from the search for contamination. And, with them sending the antivirus to the hospital as well as destroying Nimueh's chances of repeating this, the whole thing would be wrapped up fairly soon, Arthur would be back to nitpicking them and wanting them to do their duties.

"Oh!" Maria half-yawned, half-gasped as they nearly walked into a beaming Gwen, quite a change from the girl they had seen last night.

"Gwen!" Merlin smiled, "How's your dad? Doing any better?"

Gwen just beamed at them, answering their questions before she said a word, "It was a miracle!" she breathed, "The doctors found a cure! It's just incredible!"

Merlin and Maria shared a pleased, and a little bit of a smug, grin at that, one that didn't escape Gwen's notice, before they faced her again, "So he's looking better then?" Maria continued, "No more blue veins?"

"No more than normal," Gwen eyed them.

"Great," Merlin cheered, the two of them heading off.

"You know," Gwen called out, making them stop, "You don't seem all that surprised."

"Oh, we are," Maria nodded, "It's…it's a miracle."

Gwen nearly snorted at how Maria had wiggled her fingers and moved her hands in a circle at the word 'miracle,' as though it gave extra effect, "But how did you know he was doing better?" she had to ask, having noticed at addition to Merlin's question.

"Because you were happy?" Merlin tried to excuse.

"It's really weird because I haven't told anyone, but _you_ know," Gwen commented, eyeing them, "How could you know?"

"We're psychic," Maria made the wiggling finger gesture again, making Gwen laugh.

"Yeah, right," Gwen shook her head, "You two are so weird," she added, "But, um, in a good way. A very good way. Not like, weird as in…"

"We get it," Merlin chuckled.

Gwen smiled, "Thank you, though," she added, shrugging when they gave her a questioning look, "For asking. For noticing that I was happy."

"You're our friend," Maria reasoned, smiling at the thought of that, of having another friend, "Of course we noticed."

"And, unless you'd like to notice us walking out the door, fired," Merlin cut in, "We need to be off before Arthur starts to hunt us down."

Gwen laughed at that but waved them on, Morgan was far more lenient with her and when she arrived, especially after the night she had, than Arthur would be.

~8~

For as happy as everyone had been that morning, with Gwen's father recovering, with the search for contamination called off, the water replaced, and a cure in the hospitals for those that were still alive, that was how upset and angry they became when, just after a very happy and celebratory lunch with Gwen, the very girl in question was stopped by security just inside the entrance of Camelot, and dragged off to confinement, a rather grim Arthur following them along as Morgan rushed to find out what happened.

"I warned you," a voice hissed at them, seeming to take great care to be quiet as they looked to see their uncle approaching them, "I should have known," he muttered.

"We couldn't just sit there and let her father die," Maria whispered right back.

"And sending the cure to the monitor of Tom's room kept Gwen from taking his place?"

Merlin frowned at that, "I sent the cure to the nurse's station," he shook his head, he hadn't sent the anonymous, untraceable copy of the cure to Gwen's father's room, but to the station outside it, he was SURE of it.

"Well that was where it appeared, interfering with the support systems and setting off alarms," Gus told them, "And when the doctors arrived and saw the cure on display, when it WORKED, what else was Pendragon Security supposed to think but that Gwen did it? That HER father was the one to be given the cure? They think she CAUSED the virus now!"

"But she didn't!" Maria nearly shouted, only the crowd gathering to see what the commotion with Gwen was about keeping her quiet.

"And how are you going to prove that?" Gus countered, disappointment shining in his eyes.

Merlin quickly scanned the halls before turning to his sister, "Cover for me," he ordered before rushing out of the building.

She could only hope he didn't make it worse.

~8~

Merlin and Maria sat at her desk in Arthur's office, the man out with Morgan to plead Gwen's case to Mr. Pendragon, though they doubted it would work. Arthur and Morgan were convinced Gwen was innocent, as she was, but they knew how the CEO was, he would only think that Gwen was a hacker, a spy, that had gotten into his company and tried to kill his employees, tarnish his company's name, and then, in an accident of her father being harmed, try to send out the cure anonymously. She was being held in confinement still as Mr. Pendragon attempted to phone some of his contacts to deal with her. For as much as Pendragon Security tried to help others uphold the law, Mr. Pendragon, with all the people he had met in his life and 'helped' had come up with quite a list of people that could make Gwen's life miserable if she wasn't persecuted to the fullest extent of the law for what they thought she'd done.

The two of them were using their time as best they could to see to it that Gwen was found innocent. Everything was in place to do that, they just needed Arthur here, and that could take a while. So, while they waited, they knew there was at least one other person that they needed to speak to first.

Gwen.

Maria looked at her brother, "You're sure about this?"

He nodded, "I thought Gwen was your friend," he reminded her, frowning at her hesitation to go through with their plan.

"She is, but…I've only just met her," she argued lightly, " _You_ know her better. Will she keep this a secret?"

Merlin let out a breath, honestly not sure. He wanted to believe Gwen would, but he also knew she'd grown up around the Pendragons, that she was obligated as an employee to report what they were about to tell her, that she had a right to do it as Morgan's friend as well…but he hoped that the person he knew Gwen to be would be stronger than that.

"I hope so," he murmured before hitting a button on the keypad…several times till it actually worked and the screen flickered, showing them Gwen sitting in a small white room, fiddling with her hands and picking at her nails, looking down at the ground.

The containment rooms of Camelot were cell-like rooms, white, with a monitor in the wall to act as a contact to the prisoner as well as a small webcam to provide security footage for others in the company. There were guards at the end of the hall, stationed just outside the row of cells. They had hacked into the life-feed, able to see Gwen in real time, while also having recorded her for a half hour beforehand, feeding that through as a loop so those watching in the security rooms wouldn't notice them talking to her, luckily Gwen had hardly moved since she'd been there so it wouldn't be a noticeable loop.

Maria took a breath and typed in a small command, getting into the video feed as well, making the logo of Pendragon Security that was revolving around the monitor in Gwen's cell disappear and their faces to appear.

"Gwen?" she called.

Gwen's head snapped up, her eyes widening as she saw Merlin and Maria staring at her through the monitor, "What…" she whispered, shaking her head as she stood, walking closer, "I don't…how…"

"We're sorry," Merlin spoke quickly, "It's our fault Gwen, all of it."

"Well, not ALL of it," Maria defended as Gwen looked more and more confused, "WE didn't hack into the company and set off a plague."

"But we did hack in to get the cure," Merlin sighed, flinching when Gwen gasped at the admission.

"You…" Gwen's voice was muffled as her hands had flown to her mouth, staring at them wide-eyed, "You hacked…" she closed her eyes, shaking her head, "You're hackers?" she breathed, forcing herself to look at them.

"We…dabble," Maria shrugged with a grimace.

Gwen seemed to glance to the side, as though expecting the guards to rush to her cell, "You're safe," Merlin reassured her, "I mean, we um, we took care of the feeds, they're on loop, no one will ever know we spoke."

Gwen looked back at them, seeming to be eyeing them carefully, "You hacked into Pendragon Security…"

"And the uh, the person who hacked in originally," Maria nodded, "We needed to find the antivirus and stop them doing this again."

"We couldn't let your father, or any of the others, die when we knew we could help," Merlin insisted.

"You hacked in…to save my dad?" Gwen swallowed hard at that, tears in her eyes now.

"We did," Maria confirmed, "We're sorry you ended up there, Gwen, we didn't mean to."

"It was my fault," Merlin hung his head, "I was trying to send the cure to the nurse's station, it was a rookie mistake, I never should have made it."

"But it had taken us hours," Maria defended her brother, "We were tired and he just…sent to your dad first, that's why everyone thought it was you."

"It never should have happened like that Gwen, you have to believe me," Merlin looked at her, "We've been hacking into things since we were little kids, it just came easy to us, never anything to hurt anyone, never ever."

"We really didn't mean this to happen to you, we're so sorry and…"

"Thank you," Gwen cut them off, smiling at them through her tears, "You saved my dad. You risked yourselves to save him, to help him. You're...amazing. And you've done nothing wrong."

"But Gwen," Merlin started, but just couldn't finish.

So Maria did, "You're going to pay for _our_ crimes."

"It wasn't a crime," Gwen insisted, "You saved someone's life, more than one. You gave me my dad back. So please, please don't ever regret that. Even if it means I'm fired or…or locked up, I don't regret what you did either and…"

"That is NOT going to happen," Maria promised.

Merlin tried to offer her a smile, "Trust us, just once more, trust us."

Gwen smiled, "Of course I do."

Maria and Merlin both let out a sigh of relief at that, glancing up quickly when they heard Morgan shouting in the hallway, some rather colorful words aimed at a particular Pendragon, and quickly looked back at Gwen, "We need to go," Maria warned.

"But we'll get you out soon," Merlin swore, hitting a button to cut the feed and restore the original security measures just as Arthur walked in…

The exact same time that the computer decided to die and reboot as well, just their luck.

Arthur did not seem to be in a rather good mood, which was truly good for them, the angrier he was at his father, the more he disagreed, the more likely it was he believed Gwen was innocent, and they could use that to nudge him towards the 'evidence' that she was.

It hadn't taken Merlin long at all to get back to their flat, get into their records, and manage to lay a trail from the antivirus sent to the hospital back to the original computer that had hacked into Camelot. It was a very advanced and sophisticated hack that had been used, he honestly hadn't faulted Pendragon Security for not noticing it when they first investigated and trying to trace the hack. It was clever and subtle and it would take a prodigy in hacking to be able to find it, which he was if he did say so himself. By now the other person would have realized they'd been hacked and wiped and dispose of their laptop somewhere. If it was ever found, what little remained on it, serial numbers and other things, would likely prove that Gwen had not been the hacker at all. He may or may not have put some failsafes into the trail as well, making it look like it was a calculated effort to bounce the antivirus off a few other locations till it was purposefully sent to Tom's room at the hospital.

He had done his best to make it look like Gwen had been framed, which she essentially (accidently) had been. Now they just had to spark that theory in Arthur and he would run with the evidence Merlin had created and believe it fully by the time it was all found.

"Arthur!" Maria called, jumping in her seat to make it look like he'd surprised them.

"Not go well with the boss?" Merlin tried to quip, but Arthur sent him a glare.

"He refuses to listen that Gwen is innocent," Arthur huffed, "The man can be so infuriating!"

"NO," Maria dragged out the word, as though she sounded mockingly in disbelief that Mr. Pendragon, father of the clotpole Arthur Pendragon, could be infuriating, "Is he?"

Arthur seemed to catch on to that and glared at her as well, "He won't listen to reason," he continued, "He refuses to look at the evidence…"

"Is there evidence?" Merlin leapt at the chance.

"What?" Arthur turned to him.

"IS there evidence?" Maria repeated.

"Don't tell me you both believe Gwen…"

"No!" Maria rolled her eyes, "We're just saying, your dad seems the sort to pay attention to evidence over testimony, if you had evidence, he'd HAVE to listen and believe you, but he doesn't. So what evidence did you show him?"

Arthur was silent.

"You don't have any, do you?" Merlin deadpanned, Arthur just looked away, "Ok, well then we just have to find some."

Arthur snorted, "And HOW are we to do that, Merlin?" he scoffed, "You two can barely get a computer to turn on for you, I doubt you could find evidence of a master hacker in our systems."

Oh the irony.

But the siblings kept their expressions neutral, "WE might not," Maria agreed, lying through her teeth, "But you DO have computer experts here, yeah? They might find something if we can think of where to look."

"I doubt we'd find somewhere to look that they haven't thought of yet," Arthur remarked.

"What about the hospital?" Merlin suggested, continuing when Arthur gave him an odd look, "The experts are for the company, to keep an eye on our files, right? But this person sent that antivirus to the hospital, so why not have them look there first? Maybe they could track it from there and see where it came from!"

Arthur blinked at that, "That…is not an entirely terrible idea."

"So you're admitting your men, the best men, haven't thought of that then?" Maria teased.

Arthur rolled his eyes, "But what if it traces back to Gwen's computers?"

"If they're as good of experts as you think, wouldn't they be able to see if someone sent it through Gwen's computer?" Maria argued.

Merlin pointed at her and nodded, "What if she's being framed?" he added, putting the idea more firmly in Arthur's head, "I mean, she IS Morgan's assistant, her father was infected, maybe whoever sent the virus in the first place thought it was a good opportunity to stir up trouble."

"More trouble than infecting half our employees?" Arthur scoffed at the notion that one single employee being implicated would cause all that much unrest.

"If Gwen was accused and removed, Morgan would need another assistant," Maria pointed out, "Who's to say the hacker wouldn't jump at the chance to be IN Camelot? And, for that matter, if she was accused and later proven innocent, it creates trust issues in the company, that she was even accused or believed to be guilty in the first place."

Arthur seemed to be considering that.

"And even if it originated from Gwen's computer," Merlin added one last point, "It still could have been from an email or a pop up she opened that triggered it," Arthur seemed to look surprised at that knowledge, "I mean, they warn about that sort of thing on the news all the time."

Arthur nodded at that, "They do…and it does seem a likely event," he hummed, thoughtful, before glancing at them, "Hold my calls and meetings for the day," he ordered, striding out.

"Where are you going?" Merlin called.

"To meet with your Computer Division," he responded, leaving the room and never even noticing the two grinning siblings behind him as they high-fived their success.

~8~

Once the evidence was collected by the Computers Division, clearly showing that Gwen's computers had been hacked into and purposefully too by someone named 'Nimueh,' Mr. Pendragon had no other choice but to release Gwen and call off the charges against her, much to her relief as well as everyone else's. Something like Gwen being charged could have set off a witch hunt in the company, if Morgan's very own assistant could turn on the company like that, Mr. Pendragon would have had a field day rooting through the rest of them, launching investigations and other sweeps of the company that no one wanted.

Merlin and Maria stood beside Morgan as they watched Gwen hugging her father, now on the mend and out of hospital, able to pick his daughter up from confinement himself, smiles on all of their faces.

Gwen half ran to them, hugging the siblings tightly as she cheered, "Thank you!" to them, giving Morgan her own thanks too as she knew the woman would have argued on her behalf too. Luckily her thanks didn't seem strange or suspicious for why she was thanking THEM, Morgan had told her, the moment they'd come down to release her, that Merlin and Maria had convinced Arthur to have the Computers Division sweep her computer and that it ended up leading to a trace and a hack and evidence of her innocence.

The smile she gave them let them know clearly that their secret of what they'd really done was safe with her.

It was…nice, they mused as they watched Gwen speak with Morgan and her father, to be appreciated like that, the gratitude in both Gwen and Tom, and even Morgan's eyes, was touching and warming to them. It wasn't often they were able to be honest about what they could do or how they could use it to help.

Maybe one day, when there wasn't so much paranoia about cyber-crimes or such a negative connotation to hacking, they could be honest with more people, be appreciated for their skills.

Till then, well, they would just have to content themselves with the knowledge that they had done good with their skills, lives were saved, and a friend was happy.

~8~

An angry screech filled the air as a woman slammed her hands, curled into fists, on top of a laptop resting on a table, her long brown hair following the motion to fly past her shoulders and rest before her. Her blue eyes narrowed as she looked across her darkened room at a small corkboard of chemicals and equations, solutions and measurements, the Pendragon Security logo tacked onto it and held in place with a blood red pin. Her laptop was useless now, completely wiped, with a single message left for her before it died completely.

' _With love, the Wizard and the Witch._ '

She was _livid_.

"Oh you will _pay_ for this," she spat before grabbing her laptop and throwing it to the side, not even blinking as it slammed against the wall and fell to pieces.

A/N: Again, I am so sorry that I wasn't able to get online and posting :( Things really were crazy and I've only gotten back last week. I should warn though that, for the next few months (likely just till the end of April) I'll be posting this story every other week. That should be when I finish my tutoring position and I'll have more time to focus on editing and writing and can put more up ;)

As for this chapter, with the story being set more in the modern world, where magic has been replaced with technology, I didn't really see the Afanc working here as an actual and physical monster for Arthur to face down with a torch. But I wanted to still incorporate it. It made it a little harder to work out an ending for the chapter, it was a catalyst for proving Gwen's innocence, but I feel like I tweaked it just enough where it was still able to happen without needing to go too off story with some sort of monster living in the sewers beneath Camelot lol :)

I hope you like the little code names that Merlin and Maria picked for themselves. I just feel like, growing up insisting he's called 'Merlin' would mean that he'd know about the wizard-Merlin and it would just fit, and what is parallel to a wizard for women but a witch? ;) I can say code names will become very important when we get to the Druids and the other 'magical' clans };)

Some notes on reviews...

I'm glad you're enjoying Maria so far :) It's definitely challenging to try and get their personalities to fit with a modern version of themselves, but I'm trying to manage as best I can so I'm really glad it's working so far :) I really am happy you're liking the story, I hope you enjoy the rest of it too :)

We'll be seeing her take a sort of part-time/as-needed job there. I feel like Merlin and Maria, in this story, will be struggling with wages similar to how they didn't make much as servants in the original story, so she's going to be taking on a second job to help with that ;) Killian will be around much more as a result, yup, and I can say that he has a connection to Pendragon Security and a reason to want to see them taken down too, which will be partially justified and partially not, we'll have to wait and see what it is though }:) Nimueh is a hacker, but there'll be more to her and her backstory as the tale goes on ;) As for Uther, I actually plan for his real name to never be revealed, similarly to how he was an imposing and intimidating king, the fact that everyone now has to call him 'Mr. Pendragon' adds to that here, it's sort of more intimidating when no one can call you by your first name ;) Oh Gaius/Gus will increase yup, we'll see some of his old-fashioned hacking skills coming into play also ;) He may even know Mr. Garren as well }:) I'm glad you liked the story so far :)

Lol, I love that picture, I'm glad you feel that way! :D

We'll get to meet Arthur's girlfriend very soon ;)

I'm definitely going to continue the story, no worries ;) Life and family got crazy for a while, but things have calmed down and I'm back to posting, not quite as quickly as before, but slow and steady wins the race right? ;)

Oh we'll be getting much more Mergana as the story goes ;)

Everything's ok, I'm sorry I worried you! Lots of things happened around when I planned to return to updating, but it's all been sorted now ;)

Lol, Maria could definitely learn a lot from Black Widow :)


	4. Bruised and Battered

Bruised and Battered

Maria was beaming as she entered the small foyer of Arthur's office, the smile refusing to budge even as she saw the stack of papers resting on her desk, no doubt coming from Arthur for her to sort through instead of the man himself actually doing it instead. Merlin looked up from where he was bashing his fist on the printer, trying to get it to work properly, to see her plop down on her chair with a bright grin.

"It went well then?" he asked, starting to smile himself, he always did whenever his sister did, the same for her and his grins, they just liked seeing each other happy.

Back in their hometown, they hadn't been the most popular of children. It was like there was just something about them that made the other children not care to know them. They were picked on relentlessly, bullied even, by their peers. It had made for a very lonely existence in such a small town, they only really had each other to rely on and support each other, help come up with fibs for why Merlin had a busted lip or why Maria had gotten detention to keep their mother from worrying.

It hadn't been an easy place to grow up, only one kid seemed willing to ignore the others and stick up for them, Will, his name was, but he'd had a bit of a falling out with Maria which put a strain on his friendship with Merlin as a result. They weren't hostile to each other, they weren't mean, but they weren't as close of friends as they had once been.

It was a blessing in disguise though, to be so excluded by every other child, really. They spent more time in the library, studying for their classes, doing their homework, and soon enough, they were doing well in classes, so much so that they didn't need to spend that much time studying. It left them bored and, one day, they stumbled on a book of computer codes and how to program computers. From there it was like a fire had ignited inside them, it was like a spark had gone off because, before they knew it, they were devouring the book and testing the lessons it had given them.

They honestly didn't know how it had turned into hacking from there. They hadn't needed to learn it, not much, it was like…like they were just prodegies when it came to working their way into places they shouldn't be able to get to. It was like…like magic, in a way, how easily it came to them. Oh it took forever at times to work something out, but not because they were learning how to do something, but because the computers, for how well they did with getting into them, often glitched and short circuited when they were around. It was a constant battle for them, because they were unparalleled in their skills to hack, but electrical devices just never seemed to cooperate.

The hacking had been a godsend though, it had helped them cope with their childhoods and with the stresses of the day, just challenging themselves to see what they could do. Never ever to corrupt someone's files or do something unlawful with the information they could get access to, never. They more…tried to help. Like what happened with the virus that had gotten out, they used their skills to find the criminals and put a stop to it. It was like…like they were just vigilante cyber-crimes investigators, that was how they liked to think of it.

They hadn't asked for this gift or proficiency in hacking, it just grew over time, it just came naturally to them. They could work out codes better, crack passwords faster, slip through cracks with ease that they were sure they shouldn't have, but they weren't about to question it. It was a gift and something they had determined to use to help keep people safe from the truly horrible hackers that would rob them blind if left alone long enough.

"Yeah," Maria nodded, shaking Merlin from his thoughts, "Mr. Garren said that it's even ok if I keep working here," she looked over, "I just need to be able to come in and run some tours, help with inventory and cataloguing, setting up displays and fact checking. A lot of that happens after-hours anyway, after I'd be done here. And the tours are more on the weekends unless a school makes a trip in and I should have plenty of notice for that to work something out with Arthur for a few hours off here and there."

"You got the job then?" he laughed, his sister had been aiming for a position in the museum nearby since she got there and he was very pleased she seemed to have gotten the job.

"Mhmm," she laughed, "I can't believe it," she let out a breath, "I thought I wasn't going to get it, but Mr. Garren said that I was the most qualified applicant," she glanced at her brother, "And it probably helped that I'm working in the Arthurian section and my brother's a Merlin."

Merlin rolled his eyes at that, "Never going to stop poking fun at that, are you?"

"You were the one that wanted to be called that," she reminded him, "I honestly don't see what's so bad about your name Merr…"

"Oi!" he pointed a finger at her, warning her NOT to say his full name as he knew she was about to, "No."

She rolled her eyes, holding up her hands in surrender, "And you were the one that thought our signatures should be what they are."

Merlin sighed at that, knowing she was referring to their hacking codenames, the Wizard and the Witch, it just fit though! Merlin was a wizard…and his sister could be quite the little witch when she wanted to be.

"Ow!" he flinched as a paperclip hit him in the head, earning a glare sent at his sister.

"Don't give me that look," she defended, pulling something out of her pocket to set on her desk before starting to open it, "I know exactly what you were thinking just now. And I am NOT a witch!"

"You're my sister," Merlin deadpanned, "To a brother, that automatically means you're a witch."

"I can vouch for that," Arthur's voice spoke up as the man entered, not having heard anything but the last bit of their conversation, "Morgan was a right one growing up."

"I'm sure Morgan was as lovely as she is now," Maria defended, smirking as she sent a look at her brother, "Don't you think Merlin?"

Merlin just flushed and coughed, ducking down behind the printer and pulling the bottom drawer out to check for paper, busying himself in his task so as not to have to answer. It was a trap, he knew, either he agreed with Arthur and had to say that the woman he may or may not have a crush on was a witch, which would only come back to bite him later, or he'd have to agree with his sister and his entire argument that little sisters were witches to their older brothers was invalidated. He had grown up with traps like that, he wasn't about to make it this time, and not in front of Arthur.

Arthur seemed oblivious to why Merlin had really gone silent, assuming he was actually attempting to get work done and earn his wages now, and turned back to Maria, seeing that she still had the stack of papers on her desk that he'd left her before she went on her lunch. He opened his mouth to ask her about why there wasn't even a dent in it, when he noticed what she was munching on in her hand, "Has someone given you chocolates?"

Maria blinked, glancing at the candy bar in her hand and up to him, smirking in a way that had Merlin groaning at the sight of it, "Yes."

"Let me guess, Gwen?" Arthur crossed his arms, smug.

"Secret admirer this time," she shrugged, taking another bite, "I came back from lunch to see it on my desk with a lovely poem, I love poems."

Arthur's expression dropped to a frown at that, looking to Merlin for confirmation that HE hadn't just given his sister some chocolate and she was making up the note, "She brought it for lunch," Merlin huffed, NOT about to cover for his sister and lie to his boss.

"I knew that," Arthur muttered, turning back to Maria when she scoffed.

"Sure you did," the girl muttered.

He narrowed his eyes at her, "I did, in fact," he defended, "I am the next in line for the company, it's my job to know what goes on around here, especially in my office. I have to be on top of everything."

Maria nodded, leaning forward, pretending to check something on her computer, "Then Merlin reminded you that you're scheduled for a conference with your father five minutes ago?"

Arthur's eyes widened for a moment before he cleared his throat, "Of course I did," he hurried past her, into his office, the two siblings leaning over to watch him grab some random paper or report before he was hurrying back out, "I just stopped in to get my notes for it…"

And then he was gone.

Merlin frowned, clicking open his computer, having to move the mouse a few times to get it to appear, before opening Arthur's schedule, "I don't have an appointment with Mr. Pendra…" he blinked, turning to his sister, "Mia!"

"I'm sorry," she laughed, "I can't help it if your boss is so easy to tease."

"He's your boss too now," Merlin reminded her, "You'll need to be on his good side if you expect him to let you off a few hours to give tours at another job."

"That IS true…" she murmured, glancing at her papers, "You think if I get this stack sorted before he realizes his father's not in his office or in the building today, he'll be more lenient?"

"You can try," Merlin grumbled, "But knowing Arthur, we're going to end up here after hours just to finish the work he'll pile on us for that."

Maria winced as she heard Arthur shouting her name in the hallway, realizing he was right.

~8~

It was cruel and unusual torture, she was sure of it, how much work Arthur had actually piled onto hers and Merlin's already long list just to spite her for tricking him. He hadn't just kept it to doing file sorting in his office or anything else that their job description actually listed, but he'd branched out. He had them running errands all over the company, not allowing them to use the phone, stating that he needed signatures on requests and reports. He had them getting lunch for the few of the company that didn't eat in the cafeteria. He even had them wiping down and cleaning all the equipment in the training rooms and they were utterly disgusting, some of the padded suits that would be worn for demonstrations, full of sweat and stains and just horrible.

The last thing on the list though had had her telling Merlin to go home and that she would handle it. It was already well past dark, the company's nightly cleaning crews and watchmen the only ones in the building which proved just how late it was, and they were to get up extra early to report on what they'd accomplished today for Arthur. Merlin was already dead tired, having been on the job longer than she had been so she sent him home for rest. Really the last part of the list shouldn't be that hard to do in the sense that it needed two people to accomplish it. She was sure she could get it done herself.

But truly, the fact that Arthur had gone so low as to task them to clean out the pens of the training dogs, the ones that were set for the company and even the ones currently being taught various skills, was so far out of what she had agreed to do as a secretary that she was tempted to quit. But then that would mean her brother would be forced to take on her duties again and he barely managed it before she arrived. So she made her way down to the level of the company where the animals were trained.

Camelot didn't just train people to be bodyguards or develop weaponry to help protect, they also trained certain animals to help as well. Guard dogs, police dogs, even a hunting dog or two for sniffing out tracks in the woods of people who had fled or were in need of rescue. They were kept in spacious pens, with their water bows and plush little cushioned beds, toys to entertain them when they weren't being trained. They were all well fed and well cared for, the company made sure of that. The last thing they needed was for any animal rights groups to target them for poor treatment of the dogs.

She doubted that the company would ever be able to treat the dogs poorly though. From the whispers she heard and a bit of research she'd done about the company, about Arthur and his father, Arthur's mother had trained and bred showdogs, she loved the animals and, from what she knew of Mr. Pendragon, the man had loved his wife dearly. He wouldn't disrespect her memory by harming a single hair on those dogs heads or shoving them into small cages like other testing facilities did.

The dogs were kept in separate rooms based on what they were in training for, there was one for service dogs, one for guard dogs, police dogs, and hunting dogs. She had already managed to make her way through the service dog section, the hunting dogs, and the police dogs, sweeping out their little pens, taking out the bags that contained their…presents for their trainers. She had just finished up the guard dogs when she passed the last room, a room she knew she wasn't to enter despite it containing more dogs. It was the room reserved for Mr. Pendragon, Arthur, and Morgan's dogs, the ones they were personally having trained for themselves or even for very close friends and connections, they got specialty training.

It was off-limits to anyone but the single trainer in charge of those dogs, and the three Pendragons themselves. There was even a keypad on the lock to keep others out…

So why was the door cracked open with a light on inside? She was sure that Arthur and the others had left already, left early actually and so had the trainers.

She frowned, debating whether she should just walk away, assume it was the cleaning crew, or go in and check that it wasn't someone trying to kidnap the dogs for the competition…it HAD happened in the past. She was just about to walk away when she heard a pained whimper from inside the room, a dog crying out in _pain_.

Without another thought, she ran into the room, nearly slamming the door into the wall from the force of her entrance, shouting out, "Oi, what are you doing!?" before she even realized who was in there or what was happening.

Murphy was standing there, a golden retriever, before him, backed into the wall of the training area just on the other side of the pens, cowering from the man. She could tell, even from there, that the retriever was an older dog, the greying hair on its face told her as much, and it was clearly in pain. Murphy had to have been hitting it, and she got her proof soon enough when the man struck the dog once more, having ignored her shout from behind.

"Murphy stop it!" she ran in, hurrying to grab the man's arm as he moved to hit the dog once more, pulling him back just enough to spin him around but not stop him, "What are you doing!? This is the Pendragon's restricted training room! You can't be here! And when they find out you were abusing one of the dogs…"

"And how are they going to know?" the man sneered at her, grabbing her by the shoulders and shoving her back, "YOU gonna tell them? They gonna believe you?"

She grimaced as she smelt the alcohol on the man's breath. He didn't appear to be drunk, but he clearly had been drinking, "They will," she said, sounding more sure than she actually felt. She did doubt, quite a bit, that Mr. Pendragon or Arthur would believe her, but she had to try, "And you'll be fired before you can even say…"

Whatever she was going to say was cut off when Murphy swung at her, backhanding her to the ground, sending her stumbling quite a few feet, "You ain't gonna tell no one!" he shouted, grabbing her viciously by the arm and hauling her to her feet, "You breathe a word of this…" he snarled, shoving her back.

Maria cried out in pain when she slammed against a glass cabinet that held the sedatives for the dogs, the glass shattering and cutting the back of her tunic, digging into the skin of her back as well. The dogs weren't violent, but sometimes if one of the dogs got out of the pen in the middle of training, they could be in danger if the other dog saw them as an attacker. It had happened only once, but it was enough to install a glass cabinet with a handful of sedatives to keep the dogs from harming each other in such a case. And that was what had now broken into her back.

She crumbled to the ground, gasping from the blow and the wind being knocked out of her.

Murphy stood over her, raising a hand to deal another blow, making her flinch and lift her hands to cover her face…which only served to make Murphy let out a dark chuckle at seeing the girl that had gotten the best of him cowering just like the dog had, "That's right," he spat at her, "Cower like the bitch you are. Make a fool of me," he muttered, sending her a kick to the stomach when she started to lower her hands and defenses, thinking a blow wasn't coming, "You tell anyone about this," he threatened, "And this will seem like child's play compared to what I'll do to you."

Maria struggled to breathe as Murphy stormed out of the room. She swallowed hard and looked up, looked for the dog, only to see it had fled, back to its pen and was safe for the moment. She shifted, wincing and gasping as she tried to get up, but she felt so bruised all over. She knew her stomach was going to bruise, as would her face from the backhand he'd dealt her. The way her arms were tingling from where Murphy had grabbed her she could guess they would have marks too.

She nearly fell to the ground again when she straightened her back, feeling as though it were on fire from the numerous cuts. She couldn't even reach behind her to see if there was still glass there it hurt too much. She tried to take a step and nearly stumbled into the wall. She had landed on her knee when she'd fallen from the blow to her face, and it was throbbing.

She sniffled, already knowing there were tears falling from her face from the attack, but needing to collect herself. She couldn't make it back to her uncle's flat in such a state, not walking the streets at night, especially not crying, that would be like painting a target on her back.

She used the edges of the pens to make her way to the door, to where she'd dropped her coat and bit her lip hard to manage to swing it over her shoulders even if she didn't put her arms through it. She wiped at her eyes and prayed to every god she could think of as she tried to leave the building that she would make it home without further incident…

~8~

"Where have you BEEN young lady?" was the first thing Maria heard as she entered her uncle's flat to see the man himself spinning, mid-pace, to face the door when it opened, "Your brother said you would be back by half past and it's…"

"Uncle please," Maria cut in, hobbling over to the edge of his small sofa, "Not now…I just…I need help."

It was then that Gus noticed how pale she was, the limp she was sporting, her bloodshot eyes, "What happened?!" he rushed over to her as she struggled to remove her jacket, gasping when he got it off her to see blood soaking into the back of her shirt, "Maria!"

She winced, "Merlin's sleeping," was her weak response to tell him to keep his voice down.

"What happened!" he demanded, not keeping his voice quiet at all.

"I was leaving," she muttered, turning slightly for him to examine her, "I was about to leave but I saw a light on in the Restricted AT room."

Gus frowned at that, why there would be a light on in the Animal Training room, especially the Pendragon's personal one, but he had no time to ask that as he moved to grab a pair of sheers to cut her shirt off her, not heeding her weak protests as he removed her shirt, he needed to be able to access the wounds and she was his niece for god's sake.

"It was Murphy, he was hitting one of the dogs…" she swallowed hard, closing her eyes as she felt something pull out of her back, apparently there HAD still been glass in it, "A golden retriever and…"

"With a gray face?" Gus paused in his efforts to get the glass he could see out of her back, there wasn't much stuck in her cuts that he could see, but the ones that were were causing him immense worry that they might have become infected from her walk over.

"I think so," she held her breath, feeling another piece come out, "You know that dog?"

"It was Raine's," Gus murmured, "Arthur's mother. Her prized showdog. His father keeps her with his dogs in the company for more protection," that and it was too hard for the man to be around the dog as often as it would be had it been at his home instead, "Murphy wouldn't dare hurt that dog…"

"He did," Maria swallowed hard, watching her uncle move to go get a first aid kit now, relieved because it meant he didn't think there was anymore glass stuck in her, "I tried to stop him and…"

"And he assaulted you," Gus finished, frowning as he really took in the sight of his niece, her face was already bruising and he knew by her limp and how she was breathing that she was injured elsewhere, there were bruises on her arms as well, in the shape of hands, starting to form, "We must call the police," he stated, "File a report, ensure Murphy is charged and…"

"No," Maria shook her head, "No one would believe that a 'Knight' of Camelot did this," she reminded him, "They'd sooner think I was mugged on the street than that someone in Pendragon Security would attack someone. And there weren't any cameras in the room, you know there aren't in the restricted rooms, there's no evidence to confirm it was Murphy besides my say so."

Gus frowned at that, but even he could admit that was a logical thing. Murphy was known in the town as training to be a bodyguard, no one would believe the word of a new employee over a well known figure in the town. And if Mr. Pendragon found out, he didn't doubt the man would defend Murphy as well.

They were trapped between a rock and a hard place now, but he was going to get the truth out of Murphy, he was going to get a confession, or he might just have to work out a way to concoct an untraceable poison. NO ONE harmed his family like this, no one.

~8~

Maria nearly heaved with relief when, for the first time all day, she was finally alone in Arthur's office. It had been…hell, the entire day just literal hell for her. She had to wake up early, not that she had really been able to sleep with her injuries, to make sure that she dug out the ancient makeup kit she'd gotten as a joke from one of her friends in University once to put coverup on the nasty bruise on her face so Merlin wouldn't see. The second he saw her as bruised and battered as she was, she knew her brother would be out for blood and that would get him in all sorts of trouble.

No, she had had to be careful. She wore a turtleneck, covering her arms and back. She wrapped her leg tightly for more support so her limp wouldn't be too noticeable and made sure to walk slightly behind Merlin and Arthur the entire day.

She had been looking forward to a slow day at work, to sorting papers and just sitting at a desk to keep off her legs, but no, of course that couldn't be her luck. No, as it turned out, the reason Arthur had assigned the cleaning of the dog pens was because he was going to take out two of the Hunting Dogs for training in the woods just at the edge of the Pendragon Security property. They had an agreement with the city that they could use the woods to train the dogs with the understanding that anything that happened in the woods, should the dogs be involved, would be Camelot's responsibility and obligation.

So she had ended up sitting in the back of Arthur's car, with two very excitable dogs running all over her lap to try and stick their heads out of the cracked windows, dogs that seemed eager to poke and nudge and step on every bruise she had.

To make matters worse, despite her efforts, it seemed like both Merlin and Arthur were aware something was off about her, continuously asking her if she was ill because she was pale and tired and quiet.

The only reprieve she'd gotten was when they returned to the office for Arthur to get the logs to make his report and the man had sent Merlin to go fetch some weapons that were being repaired for the training rooms and left himself to go speak with the dog trainers about the progress of the two he'd tested that day, ordering her to take messages for when he returned.

She had nearly cried when they left the room to give her time alone. But she couldn't, she had to touch up the makeup on her face, she knew, by now it would be so grimy and dry that it would be obvious to even the men that something was on her face. She had to be quick and wipe the current coverup off and replace it before either man returned.

Unfortunately for her, she severely underestimated how long it would take to remove make up having never used it before, and nearly jumped out of her skin when she heard someone gasp, "Oh my god!" from the doorway.

"Merlin!" her head shot up, her eyes wide to see her brother standing before her, horror painted on his face.

"Mia," he raced over to her, "What the hell happened!?" he crouched down, reaching out gently to take her face in his hands, tilting it to see the bruise spread across her side by her eye, the evidence of makeup still around the edges of it.

"Aren't you supposed to be getting the weapons…"

"Gwen already brought it to the training rooms for her dad," Merlin cut in, a serious expression on his face, "Now tell me what het hell happened Maria!"

She winced at the use of her full name from her brother, "Murphy was attacking one of Mr. Pendragon's personal dogs last night when I was leaving and I tried to stop him and…Merlin!" she cried, but her brother had already turned and taken off out of the room as the implication of what had happened hit him.

She struggled to get up, to follow him, to stop him, but staggered against her desk as her knee gave out, finally unable to handle the strain of the day, nearly sending her to the ground had she not braced herself against the desk. She bit her lip, her eyes filled with worry for her brother, she should have just kept her mouth shut.

Now all she could do was hope he wouldn't do something stupid…

~8~

There was only the briefest stroke of luck shining on the Emrys siblings that day. Merlin hadn't even made it down the hall towards the training rooms that he knew Murphy would be in, when Arthur had come across him, had stopped him when he saw the boy's murderous expression and demanded to know what was wrong.

To say Arthur was shocked that Maria had apparently been attacked by one of his own 'Knights' would be an understatement. He had been inclined to remark that Merlin must have heard wrong, but the look in Merlin's eyes, the anger, that could only come from a brother defending his injured sister. He had seen that same look in his own eyes whenever Morgan was hurt. He had tried to calm Merlin down, to keep him from confronting anyone and making the situation worse, but it had taken some doing to keep that up when he heard the story himself.

Apparently Maria had been heading home and found Murphy abusing one of the training dogs, no, not just any training dog, but one of his father's personal dogs. When she'd tried to stop him, Murphy had attacked her. He had to have threatened her too for the girl to go to such lengths to keep quiet about it.

But he would NOT allow it to remain a secret, to allow Murphy to continue in his ways, ways that were damning and tarnishing of the Pendragon reputation, especially not if the attack had truly happened.

He didn't believe Merlin or Maria were lying, not about something as serious as that even if he had doubts that Murphy would risk the probation he was on to attack someone. Merlin wouldn't have reacted that way if he hadn't seen physical evidence of the attack instead of just heard his sister talk about it. So she had to be sporting bruises of some kind. That wouldn't be enough to convince his father even if it was enough to convince HIM that it happened as Maria had described.

He sent Merlin off, telling him that he and Maria were to have the rest of the day off, to get her home and help her recover, see to her injuries and, if anything more serious came up from them, get her to the hospital and he would ensure the company paid for any expenses. He had sworn to Merlin that he would see justice for the two of them, and that was exactly what he was doing now.

He had had to wait till the end of the day, not wanting to let on to Murphy that he was planning to investigate the matter, not wanting to risk the man trying to erase or clean up any evidence there might be. So he waited, biding his time, till Murphy left, and went to the animal training room reserved for his family. He entered the key code and stepped in, looking at each of the dogs as he passed their pens for any sign that there was something wrong with them. Merlin had said Murphy was abusing one of them when Maria tried to stop him, they must be showing signs if that were true.

There was no training for them today, so at most they had someone come in to feed them and give them water, collect their droppings and ensure they each had their toys before leaving. The feeders wouldn't notice something serious being wrong with just those mere tasks. But he could tell easier. The dogs were always so excited when he or Morgan or his father entered, because they came fewer than the feeders did.

All the dogs were exhibiting the same excitement and energy as they always were…till he got to the last pen and his heart dropped at seeing the reaction to Aurora, his mother's last showdog. The little golden retriever was sitting as far back in the pen as she could, and when she saw him, instead of getting up to run to him, she let out a pained whimper and began to pace the back, like she was trying to find a way to get farther back from him. He noticed it then, how she was limping, favoring one leg just ever so slightly. He squinted, trying to look closer at her without entering the pen, not wanting to upset her more and, just barely, he could see a bruise just under the hair along her spine where it parted, she had been hit!

He stepped back in shock at that, knowing if there was one bruise there was bound to be more, but he couldn't get close enough to see just yet. He looked around, knowing there had to be more evidence and walked into the training area, pausing when his shoe crunched on something. He looked down, seeing shattered glass on the floor, then over to the sedation case where it was completely broken, with even a little blood on the edges of the glass remaining in it. The feeders didn't enter this area, no one did but the dogs and trainers, so no one would have come there or noticed it had they not entered, but there it was, even more evidence.

He looked back at Aurora, knowing that there was still one more piece of evidence he would need to convince his father.

~8~

Maria wasn't sure what she should feel when, the very next morning, she found herself standing with her brother, Murphy on the other side of the room, in Mr. Pendragon's office, Morgan and Gwen to the side, frowning in confusion, while Arthur faced his father. She and Merlin had been the last ones to enter, so she wasn't sure what was going on.

"What is it this time Arthur?" Mr. Pendragon huffed, seeming irritated with his son and the constant 'meetings' he seemed to keep calling.

"I've gathered some rather disturbing evidence of an assault that has occurred right on Pendragon property," Arthur stated, "And as a result, I wish to have this man," he gestured at Murphy, "Fired and banned from the property along with a restraining order placed upon him should he come within 20 yards of my assistant, Maria."

Mr. Pendragon gave him a dry look, "You accuse one of our own of assaulting your secretary?" his tone left little to be imagined in how much he believed his son's accusations.

"I have done no such thing," Murphy spat, sending a glare at Maria that had her stepping back, closer to her brother, earning a glare from Morgan and Gwen, as though just that action proved his guilt with them.

"I can prove it," Arthur responded, "I can prove that he assaulted my secretary when she tried to stop him abusing one of our training dogs."

Mr. Pendragon frowned at that, for as hard a man as he was, he had a soft spot for the dogs of the facility, especially with how important they were to his late wife.

"I didn't abuse nothing," Murphy defended, "I was in the training rooms, going over commands with one of the dogs I work with..."

Arthur scoffed at that, "You lie to my father's face," he sneered, turning to his father, "He broke into our restricted AT rooms, and the dog he targeted, was Aurora."

"What!?" Mr. Pendragon's eyes widened at the name.

"I examined the room, there was shattered glass and blood in the training area, where Murphy pushed Maria into the sedation cabinet, cutting her back. I looked over Aurora, she's bearing bruises that could only come from being hit. And here is the rest of your proof," Arthur pulled out his phone and slid it to his father.

Mr. Pendragon picked it up, looking at a video Arthur had set up of the single camera that had been hidden inside the Restricted AT room, a camera only three people in the entire facility knew about, fixed to Aurora's collar.

As the video played out, despite there not being any sound, Mr. Pendragon's face grew angrier and angrier. He could see it, Murphy actually hitting Aurora from the dog's point of view, he saw Maria come running in, clearly trying to stop the man, only for Murphy to turn on her and hit her. When she went crashing back into the cabinet and fell to the ground, that was when Aurora bolted back to her pen and the feed cut.

"Arthur!" he turned to his son, "Have this traitor escorted to the holding cells," he stood as Arthur grabbed the stunned Murphy's arms, Morgan rushing to a side phone to call in more guards incase Murphy tried to attack as he was being hauled off, "And you," he sneered at Murphy, "You are fired, banned from all Pendragon properties, and you can rest assured the authorities will be hearing about this. Marta…"

"Maria," Arthur corrected.

"The girl will be filing a report about this, I will make sure of that," he eyed the man in disgust, "Now get him out of my sight!"

"You can't do this to me!" Murphy shouted, Arthur struggling to lead him away, only managing to do it, when other security personnel entered to help restrain the man, which was just in time as he had tried to lunge at Maria and attack her again, "Let go of me! You can't do this to me!"

Mr. Pendragon let out an angry breath as his door shut behind the raving man, turning to look at those remaining in his office, "Don't you have work to do?" he demanded of them.

Morgan rolled her eyes, but walked out with Gwen, Merlin and Maria turning to leave when he called out for Maria to remain.

She turned and faced the head of the company just as Merlin shut the door behind him, knowing her brother wouldn't go far, but still, feeling intimidated to be facing down Mr. Pendragon alone. She didn't even know his first name and it made him feel even more imposing and less personable as well.

"Sir?"

He let out a breath, closing his eyes and pinching the bridge of his nose, "I do not have much left of my wife," he began, looking up at her a moment later, "What little I do have is precious to me," she watched his expression pinch, as though what he were about to say was difficult, "Thank you," he managed to get out, "For looking after them."

Maria nodded slowly, "It's…just a part of the job, isn't it?"

"Not like that," Mr. Pendragon could admit, "And not just Aurora."

Maria cleared her throat, trying to wave off the odd stirring at the thought that he appreciated her efforts to help keep an eye on Arthur too, "Any chance for a raise then?"

Mr. Pendragon almost cracked a smile at that, but just pointed at the door, "Out."

"Worth a shot," Maria shrugged, heading to step out the door, not entirely sure how she felt about the entire situation but knowing one thing for sure…

She really would need to stick around, she needed to learn more about how to defend herself, protect herself, as did Merlin, they could both serve to learn a thing or two from Camelot.

It had absolutely nothing to do with the fact that, maybe, just maybe, she had been wrong about Arthur. He had believed her brother after all, when he told the blonde about the attack. He had gotten evidence, confronted Murphy, and made the building feel safer to her, and all that happened without him even seeing her injuries himself.

He'd believed them this time.

Maybe he wasn't as bad as she originally thought.

A/N: I hope you liked the chapter :) I was so torn because I hated writing Marayna injured by Urry in the original series, but it had to be done here too :( But I think it was what she needed to see that Arthur was starting to come around and that maybe she was wrong about her assumptions on him and to give him a chance ;)

We ALMOST got Merlin's full name! Almost lol }:) We will find out what it is soon though, and I sort of laugh thinking what it is. 'Merlin' was definitely a better choice of name for him ;)

Some notes on reviews...

I just want to start by saying thank you all for your understanding and support about how long it took to update this story before. I am so glad to be back and I'm very much looking forward to the story to come too :) I'm really glad you've enjoyed it so far :')

I can't say if they'll regain their memories or not ;) I can say that there will be something involving Morgan and the memories of the past though, and that the original series did happen so this isn't a full AU but more a sequel to that ;)

The DW stories should be resumed mid-April and WWTW2 will be up in October ;) I'm glad you've enjoyed them so far! :)

That'll definitely be a thing to consider in this story, how they had to learn to be hackers instead of being born knowing how to do it :) I touched a little on it here that they just have an affinity for it since they learned about it. It comes more naturally to them than other things in life, they had more time away from people to just understand computers and how they worked so their childhood sort of led them to a path that took them down a road of being hackers one day :) It'll be a big thing to them how you choose to use what you know, sort of thing. Like hacking, in a general sense, is thought to be negative. But the governments will often find expert hackers and offer them jobs to help protect things from hackers and help track other ones and stop them, Pendragon Security just hasn't reached that point or awareness of that option yet ;) As for Morgan, I can say there's a very subtle hint about whether she'll have 'magic' or hacking abilities in this story in the first chapter, but it's very small }:)

I can say that I do have a Valentine's twist planned for a certain chapter in the future, but I can't say which one just yet ;)


	5. The Poisoned Wine

The Poisoned Wine

Maria raised an eyebrow as an outfit covered in a plastic sleeve was half tossed on top of Merlin's desk, which she was half sitting on as she spoke with her brother about her work in the museum, the two of them looking up at Arthur as he smirked down at them, "What's this?" Merlin eyed the clothing.

"Your next task," the man stated, "I need it cleaned for the dinner tonight."

"The negotiations with that Benjamin bloke went well then?" Maria moved to pull the plastic off the outfit, wanting to see exactly what it was.

"His name, to you, is Mr…."

"Don't care," Maria waved him off, "It's not like we'll ever be talking to him or addressing him," she reasoned, which just made Arthur roll his eyes.

"As a matter of fact, you just might," he told them, "You two are to attend the dinner also."

"What, really?" Merlin looked up at that.

"Company policy," Arthur shrugged, "Morgan is bringing Gwen, personal assistants are required to attend."

"Why?" Maria shook her head, "It's not like we had anything to do with…what is that god awful stench?" she suddenly changed topics, her nose wrinkling as a terrible odor reached her, causing her to put her hand over her mouth to try and ward it off.

"Is that…is that the clothing?" Merlin himself grimaced, giving the outfit Arthur had dropped on his desk a wary sniff, recoiling as it was indeed the outfit in question that was giving off the foul smell, "When was the last time this was cleaned!?"

"Last year?" Arthur guessed, "Morgan's promotion if I recall right."

That was something to be said for him and Morgan, they hadn't just been GIVEN the positions they had in the company, his father wasn't so stupid as to give them jobs they might be rubbish in and run the company into the ground because of. No, he made sure the two of them had a solid background in their fields and in the company in order to DO the job instead of have the job. They had worked their way up to where they were, likely a little easier than others, his father HAD had them in mind for the positions for ages now, but they did have to learn a lot about it before they could claim it.

"What, did it end in a food fight?" Maria got off the desk and stepped a few paces away.

"Knowing Morgan, it just might have," he joked. She had a terrible habit of throwing her food at him when he irritated her, usually something small, like peas or a bit of bread, sometimes mashed potatoes or even ice cream when she was really angry, "Now," he shook his head, getting back to the point, "See to it that it's clean and ready to go for tonight and do try to find something respectable to wear," he eyed them, "You're going to be representing Pendragon Security, you need to look professional as ever."

Maria opened her mouth to comment on that, but Merlin quickly covered it with his hand, "Yes, sir," he offered Arthur a smile, the man seeming a little wary of what Maria had been about to say, but turning to head off.

"What was that for?" Maria pulled his hand down as Arthur left the room.

"Knowing you, Mia," Merlin smirked, mimicking Arthur, "You were about to make some sort of crude comment about what we need to wear."

"I don't HAVE anything that formal," she rolled her eyes as Merlin picked up the covered outfit and started to head for the door, following him, "I was going to ask…"

"I can just imagine what you were going to ask," he cut in, "And, as your brother, I do NOT need to hear it."

"Oh?" she challenged, crossing her arms after she hit the button for the lift, "And what was I about to say, brother mine?"

He scoffed, "Probably something about how, if you don't have anything formal, if you shouldn't turn up at all."

"And how is THAT something you don't need to hear?"

"Because Arthur would have said you HAVE to show up, and you'd throw something out about showing up in nothing then since you had nothing formal. And, as funny as Arthur's reaction would have been, I don't need that in my head thanks."

Maria huffed, dropping her arms as they got in the lift, "Why must you know me so well?"

"I'm your brother, I'm supposed to know you too well and stop you getting in trouble."

She scoffed this time at that, "If anything, I was always the one getting YOU out of trouble."

"It's not my fault my…dabbling…isn't as aggressive as yours," he muttered under his breath, referring to his hacking.

"I know," she patted his arm in playful sympathy, "You would rather build walls, I'd rather break them."

And it had caused a lot of danger to them when they were just starting out. Merlin had always been timid and second guessing himself, hesitating too long and nearly getting caught, leaving paths open that led back to him that she'd had to go in and reverse and close and keep him safe. Alternatively though, her own protections on her computer were severely lacking, she really did focus more on the getting in than keeping others from getting into her work. Merlin had always handled that too, kept her work safe the way she kept him safe. They were a team, an excellent one if they had yet to really get caught.

"We really should work on that," Merlin mused, "We've always teamed up on things, but if something happened where it was one of us, we should be better at what the other can do."

Maria nodded, it did make sense, but she also doubted they'd actually DO it. They'd both said the same thing over the years and had yet to really try anything but improve their own areas. She looked up as the doors opened on the lower level, it was technically their lunch break and she really needed to stretch her legs and thought going with Merlin would be something to do, give them more freedom to talk outside the building. There was a small cleaners just around the corner, down the road, that they could stop by, a quaint little café on the way back for food.

"Why do I always get landed with the donkey work," Merlin sighed as they stepped out, gesturing at the lump of cloth in his arms.

"We're the assistants," she muttered, "We have to assist."

"This isn't assisting, this is DOING."

Maria paused when a young girl that was walking before them tripped on her heels, shoes she was clearly not used to wearing, and dropped all her files in her arms onto the ground, hurrying over to the girl's side to help her collect her papers again.

"THAT is assisting," Merlin called.

Maria waved him off, getting back to the girl, "You alright?" she asked.

"Yes, sorry," the girl winced, brushing her long brown hair over her shoulder as it fell before her, "Just…not used to this," she sighed, glancing up revealing blue eyes, "Heels, hells if you ask me."

"Are you new?" Maria eyed her, not recognizing her, not that she really would. She didn't know EVERYONE in the company yet, but she had hacked in to look up the employee records so she would know some key people or at least be able to recognize new faces.

"No, not technically," the girl smiled at her, "I'm Kara," she offered, taking the last file Maria handed to her, "I work for Bayard Corp."

"Oh," Maria nodded, standing, helping the girl up as well, "You're here for the negotiations."

It wasn't technically negotiations, Bayard Corp supplied Pendragon Security with a lot of the metals they used in their prototypes and weapons and safe rooms, it was more a renegotiation now that the contract had run its course, a reaffirming of it with some tweaks than an entirely new one.

"Yes," Kara smiled timidly, "I'm just an assistant," she offered, "An assistant's assistant really."

"We're assistants too," Merlin joined them, "I'm Merlin, and this is my sister, Maria."

"Who do you assist, if you don't mind my asking?"

"Arthur," they stated.

Her eyes widened, "You must be excellent at your work!" she exclaimed, "Arthur's rather famous for firing his assistants."

"I think we're more entertaining than efficient," Maria shrugged.

"Yeah," Merlin gave her a look, his tone dripping with sarcasm, "THAT's why he keeps us around," he shook his head at that, his sister was a little oblivious about Arthur wasn't she? Even HE could tell the man might fancy his sister just a little.

"Well, thank you for your help," Kara smiled at them, lifting the massive pile of papers once, "It was nice to meet you."

Maria sighed and turned back to her brother, "Come on," she nudged him, "We need to get Arthur's clothing cleaned and get something to eat. I'm starving."

~8~

"I feel ridiculous," Maria muttered to Merlin as she stood beside him, Gwen on his other side, observing Mr. Pendragon giving a speech about the long standing contract and partnership that Pendragon Security had with Bayard Corp, how they wouldn't be where they were today without the support and supplies, etc.

"You look fine," Merlin whispered back, though he too kept shifting in his suit. It was all black, even with a black shirt underneath, and a bright blue tie that Gwen had insisted he wear for his eyes.

Maria was entirely certain it wasn't just for his eyes judging on how another set of eyes hadn't been taken off her brother since they entered. Morgan really was a quite obvious in how she fancied Merlin, but her brother seemed oblivious to the woman's appreciation…though it hadn't stopped him from appreciating Morgan right back.

"I'm in a dress," Maria huffed, she hated dresses, she really did, and now she was in a black cocktail dress, in high heeled shoes, with no sleeves that was making her shiver because it was chilly in that room.

"And you look lovely, now hush," Merlin called back, nudging her slightly as she pouted and crossed her arms…only to drop them when Merlin nudged her again.

"You know who else looks lovely?" Gwen glanced at Merlin, a teasing note in her voice as she saw his attention directed towards the main table where Arthur and Morgan were, a young woman with brown hair standing just behind Benjamin, in between the man and Morgan, "Her."

"She is," Merlin nodded absently, his gaze on Morgan more than Kara, though Gwen seemed to think it was the reverse.

"Not sure about that shade of red though…" she remarked, eyeing Kara in a very pale red suit dress that looked out of place on her, she was already so pale it was washing out.

"What do you mean?" Merlin glanced at Gwen with a frown, "She's wearing blue. Dark blue."

Gwen's eyes widened as she realized Merlin really WAS looking at Morgan as she'd first suspected and could barely keep the grin off her face as she replied, "Right," she cleared her throat, "Sorry, meant to say blue."

Merlin nodded and looked back at Morgan, letting out a little sigh, "She'd look wonderful in any color though."

"I'm sure she would," Gwen pursed her lips to keep from smiling. Merlin fancied Morgan too! Oh this was Christmas! She knew her 'boss' fancied Merlin, she could hardly concentrate when the man was in the room or nearby, but she hadn't been fully sure about Merlin till just now. He gave off the rather sweet, awkward boy vibe that could have just meant he was like that around all women, the way he was around Morgan, but it seemed she was wrong about that.

"I bet you wish she 'didn't have anything formal' either," Maria muttered, nudging her brother playfully.

Merlin actually started nodding his head before her words registered, the intent and innuendo behind them hitting him, "Mia!" he nearly shouted at her, his eyes wide, his cheeks flushing at the implication that, if Morgan had nothing formal to wear she wouldn't be wearing anything.

"You know me, and I know you," she held up her hands in surrender, getting him back for cutting off her fun teasing Arthur before.

"It's nearly done," Gwen whispered to them, nodding at Benjamin as he stood to give his final speech too.

"Thank god," Maria sighed, only to tense when she felt someone grab her arm and turn her and Merlin as well, "What…Kara?" she frowned as the girl somehow managed to make her way towards them as the crowd had clapped for Mr. Pendragon's speech.

"I need to speak to you," Kara looked at them frantically, before pulling them back, through the crowd to the very back of the room where no one would see or overhear them.

"What is it?" Merlin asked, concerned, seeing she looked truly frightened.

"I'm sorry," she muttered, "I just…I didn't know who else to tell. But when my boss gave Arthur the wine for the toasting, I just knew…"

"Knew what?" Maria frowned.

Kara looked around before leaning in to speak even more quietly, "Just before we left for the meetings, I was working late, getting his evening coffee and I didn't think anything of just walking into his office because it was just him there with no meetings or guests and…"

"Kara," Maria cut in, "The point, what about the wine?"

"He was injecting something into the top of the bottle," Kara blurted, "I think it was poison."

The siblings looked at each other in alarm, there really was no other reason to inject anything into a sealed bottle unless it was meant to be a drug or poison! They turned and quickly ran towards the tables, hearing the speeches finishing up.

"Stop!" Merlin shouted, shoving one of the investors out of the way to rush towards the main table.

"The wine's poisoned!" Maria added as Merlin grabbed Arthur's cup away from him, Arthur being the closest at the moment.

"What?!" Mr. Pendragon nearly roared.

"Merlin what are you _doing_?" Arthur glared at him.

"The bottle was poisoned by Bayard Corp," Maria repeated, looking accusingly at the head of the company.

"How dare you!" the man raged, offended deeply by the accusation.

Mr. Pendragon himself seemed equally outraged, "What proof do you have in these baseless accusations!?"

"Father please," Arthur stepped around the table, cautious, "Merlin, Maria, have you gotten to the wine before the rest of us? Bit too strong for you lightweights?"

Maria just glared at him for his attempt at lightening the tension by accusing them of being drunk, "If we had we'd be dead because it's been tampered with!"

"Unless you want to be fired," Mr. Pendragon's voice grew low and dangerous, "You'll tell me why you think it's poisoned, now!"

"He was seen lacing it," Merlin answered, turning to face the head of Camelot.

"By _whom_?"

"We can't say," Maria defended Kara, not about to let the girl be fired for telling the truth.

"This is ridiculous," the head of Bayard Corp rolled his eyes, "I would never…"

Mr. Pendragon held up his hand, "Drink it," he nodded to Merlin.

"What?" Merlin gaped.

"But if it is poisoned, he'll die!" Morgan leapt to her feet, not knowing what she should have said up to that point, whether to defend Merlin or Arthur or what was going on, but this…she wouldn't stand for this, she wouldn't risk this.

"Then we'll know he was telling the truth," Mr. Pendragon remarked, "And we have ample access to antidotes and the hospitals can surely identify the poison and…"

"Father you would have a massive lawsuit on your hands," Arthur reminded him, appealing to his logical side, "There's no way to know what poison it is or how quickly it could spread," they did deal with poisons, Pendragon Security, they worked with chemicals and trying to create antidotes to them, so he knew from the sheer mechanics of it that it could take too long to work out or administer from when a person ingested it.

"It's NOT poison!" Benjamin insisted, rounding on Merlin, "Drink it," he ordered, seeming so sure that it wasn't, that Merlin would be fine, that there were whispers around the room that perhaps the two had been wrong, that it wasn't poison.

"Sir," Gus called, stepping forward, "Please, they…they've had too much to drink," he tried going with Arthur's approach, despite the fact that it earned him a glare from both his relatives, "It's…it's an office prank?"

"I am NOT laughing," Mr. Pendragon glared, "Drink it."

"Oh for…" Arthur rolled his eyes, "I'LL drink it then."

"No, no, you can't…" Merlin tried to argue, when the glass was snatched out of his hand.

He spun around just in time to see Maria take a large gulp of the glass, "There," she swallowed, "I drank it."

Merlin glared at her, knowing exactly why she'd done it and grabbed it from her, swallowing the last portion of it, "So did I."

"Merlin!" she snapped at him, SHE was supposed to drink it, not him too! If one of them was going to succumb to the poison it had best be her, she was not going to let someone hurt her brother…but he just went and drank it anyway.

He was SO frustrating sometimes!

"And…and we're fine," Merlin frowned, almost seeming disappointed they weren't poisoned as he turned to face Mr. Pendragon's wrath for ruining the evening and the dinner.

"Oh…" Maria groaned, suddenly looking green and ill, "I don't think we are…" before she clutched at her throat, sinking to her knees just as a burning feeling raced through him as well, starting in his gut and working up to his throat, driving him to his knees as well.

"It IS poison!" was the last thing either sibling heard before their worlds went black.

~8~

Merlin winced as he slowly came to, feeling sluggish and weak, like the world around him was blurry and spinning. He groaned as he tried to move, his entire body aching.

"Me too," he heard Maria's weakened voice just next to him.

He looked over to see his sister lying in a hospital bed, just like he was, both of them dressed in hospital dresses and looking very much like death had warmed over. There were bags under his sister's eyes that he knew were under his as well, she was pale, sweating, and there was a rash spreading across her arm, her lips were dry and cracked and her cheeks flushed. He knew he looked no better.

He managed to reach up, feeing something tickling his nose to feel a tube underneath it, feeding him oxygen.

"You were struggling to breathe when they brought you in," Gus's voice echoed and they looked over to see their uncle standing at the foot of Maria's bed, reading her chart, "As a relative, I'm the only one allowed to be in the room with you," he sighed, setting it down.

"What…happened?" Maria panted, trying to sit up but giving up when it became too much work.

"You were both poisoned," Gus frowned at them, "You were right, the wine was laced with an extremely rare and deadly poison, which you ingested. All employees of Bayard Corp have been taken into custody for questioning."

"Not Kara," Maria frowned, "Make sure...she's ok."

"Who?" Gus eyed her, his gaze flickering to the monitor beside her, her temperature hadn't changed.

"She told us," Merlin wheezed, "About the poison. Saw it...being added."

Gus shook his head, "There isn't anyone that works for Bayard Corp called Kara," he told them, "None that attended the negotiations."

"But...she was there," Maria insisted.

"I saw the guest list myself," Gus replied, "There is no Kara."

"But if she's not...working for Bayard..."

"Who is she?" Merlin frowned.

Gus was silent at that, thinking, a deep frown on his face, "She can't be," he mused, "She wouldn't dare..."

"What?"

"Do you know her uncle?" Maria eyed him.

"Kara..." he sighed, "it's not her real name. If she is who I think she is...it was her mother's."

"And who...do you think she is?" Merlin asked.

"A very skilled hacker," he looked as the two of them, "I don't doubt it wasn't Benjamin that poisoned the drink, but her."

"Could she do that?"

"She's also very skilled in bio-chemistry," Gus warned, "She very much could. It would explain..." he cut off.

"What?" Maria shook her head, "Explain what?"

"Why you both have developed a rash already," Gus looked at their arms, at there red rash spreading across it, "It's a sign the poison is advancing."

"Cure?" Merlin hissed as he gasped, feeling a pain throb into his stomach.

"Arthur, Morgan, and Gwen have gone to the research labs to see if Pendragon Security has any antidotes for this one," he grew grim, "But at the moment…no."

"And if 'Kara' can hack...she might erase records of it."

"What was it?" Maria frowned, not even sure what sort of poison it was.

"A poison created from the Mortaeus flower," he stepped closer to them, "They're very hard to find and the only cure comes from the Mortaeus leaf. I haven't heard of any growing near here in…many years."

"So," Merlin swallowed hard, "If no one finds the leaf or an antidote…"

"We die a slow and painful death?" Maria guessed.

"I'm…I'm afraid so," Gus swallowed hard.

The siblings fell silent, "How…how long?" Merlin hesitated to ask.

Gus stepped closer, examining the IVs and drips beside Merlin's bed, "It would have killed you in four or five days, but the rash...the poison's been modified, it's advancing faster than it should. Those rashes shouldn't have appeared till the final stages. The doctors here have you both hooked up to medications that ought to slow the symptoms and progress of the poison," he glanced between his niece and nephew, "But it won't stop it," he let out a deep breath, not wanting to tell them, but knowing they deserved to know, "Two days at most."

Merlin and Maria fell silent at that, they had never heard their uncle sound so hopeless, that…was not a good sign.

~8~

Arthur was angrily pacing as Morgan and Gwen quickly worked away at the computers of the research lab of Camelot, searching the records for anything that had to do with the Mortaeus flower that the doctors had identified as the poison Merlin and Maria had drunk.

"Anything?"

"Not since you asked us 40 seconds ago," Morgan huffed, getting irritated by Arthur's constant questioning. She was terrified for Merlin, just like he clearly was for Maria, but she wasn't snapping at him or pacing or being unhelpful.

"There's…there's nothing," Gwen breathed as their search finished moments later, "We have no records of the Mortaeus flower or poisons created from it."

"But that should be impossible," Arthur strode over, "We have records of poisons used in the middle ages and we don't have any about a flower?"

"If we did…it's not here anymore," Morgan said cryptically.

Arthur frowned at that, his jaw tensing at the implication that whoever had poisoned his assistants had hacked into their systems and deleted their information about the poison so they couldn't be saved, "Brilliant," he grunted, pushing away from the computer and spinning around, a hand going through his hair.

"Um, Morgan?" Gwen called, her voice tight, "I didn't do this…"

Arthur turned, looking over to see Gwen's computer had gone to a black screen. He stepped closer just as white writing began to move across the screen.

' ** _If you want the cure, Arthur Pendragon, come to Baldor Warehouse alone._** '

Over and over those words were written…before a countdown appeared instead, and they knew that it wasn't for how long the cure would be there, but for how long Merlin and Maria had before the poison took them.

"Arthur," Morgan turned to him, already knowing where his mind would go.

"Don't tell me I shouldn't," he spoke, his voice deadly low, knowing that whoever sent that message was toying with them, holding the cure but knowing he was a target. Maybe that was what this whole thing was about, whoever really poisoned the wine had wanted to take HIM out and when his assistants intervened, this was their backup. Kill him as he tried to save them, poetic.

"I wasn't going to," Morgan narrowed her eyes, "I was going to say be incredibly careful."

"Mr. Pendragon isn't going to like this," Gwen shifted in discomfort, just imaging how badly the man was going to explode if he found out his son had gone off on what was undoubtedly a 'fool's mission' in his eyes.

"I don't care," Morgan shook her head, "Sometimes you need to do what's RIGHT and damn the consequences."

"You really think I should go?" Arthur looked at her.

"You really think anyone would feel safe buying from Camelot if we just let two people die instead of try to save them? Your father's already crippling the name of Camelot with his infamous tact," she rolled her eyes, "This is your chance to prove you can run the company better."

Arthur considered that point, his father had a way of driving people off, of not making them feel entirely safe, but HE tried his best to do that, to keep people feeling like they could trust in Camelot again. There was a time, just before he was born, that his father refused to speak of and he knew it had been a dark time in the Company's history, something that drove quite a few people away from them and to competitors.

Now was his chance to not only restore faith in Camelot but save two lives in the process.

~8~

Arthur was quite sure that he had broken a speeding law or two on his way to get to the warehouse not just before the poison struck down two fr…assistants, but before his father caught wind of it and sent out guards to force him back. The message had said to come alone and even though he knew it was likely a trap, it always seemed to be when things like that came up, he needed to go, Merlin and Maria's lives were at stake.

He quickly skid to a stop outside the rather large abandoned warehouse and quickly got out, only just remembering to lock the car as he ran towards the building. He slowed only when he reached the door, remembering all his training in stealth and knowing it would be better to assess his surroundings than to just rush in there. Too much was at stake for him to muck this up now.

He peered in cautiously through a broken window next to the door but, seeing no one, turned to push it open, sneaking into the main floor.

The Baldor Warehouse used to be a manufacturing plant, full of mechanical belts and monitors to keep track of orders and progress. It was nearly empty now, just a large bare building, but the monitors were still fixed into the walls…so when one suddenly lit up, he jumped back admittedly startled.

' ** _Welcome, Arthur Pendragon._** '

He glared at it, "I've come and I've come alone, now where is the cure?"

' ** _Patience._** '

"Tell me now or I'll…"

' ** _What?_** ' it challenged, his jaw clenching as he knew he couldn't really threaten anything, ' ** _Downstairs._** '

He raised an eyebrow as a small arrow popped up on the screen, pointing to the right. He sighed but turned and followed it, walking till he reached a set of stairs and headed down them. He kept walking till he reached the second to last floor, a sound of a lock unhatching sounding and the door beside him started to open on its own.

Hackers, he thought, he was dealing with a hacker that had complete control of the building, but it was of little matter now. They had the cure and he needed to get to it.

He looked around the hallway the door opened into, glancing up and down it, till the light above him went off…and began to light up the others to his right. He took that as a signal to head in that direction and followed the lights, down the hall, around a corner, to another door. He peered through the window on it before it unlocked and pulled it open. It was a large room, a very large empty room.

"Well?" he shouted, "Where is it?"

He nearly gaped when a light sparked on at the other end of the room, revealing a vile resting on a metal barrel.

He glanced around, cautious, not sure what to make of this. There was nothing else in the room, just him and the barrel with the cure on it. He cautiously made his way towards it, on edge and ready for any trap that might spring at him…but nothing happened. He reached the barrel without any difficulty and picked up the vial.

"How can I know this is the cure?" he called, looking at a monitor set just behind it in the wall.

It flickered on, revealing a woman with brown hair and blue eyes, "You'll just have to trust me."

"You!" his eyes widened, recognizing her as the girl that had pulled Merlin and Maria away during Bayard Corp's speech.

And he noticed only because it was improper for them to just run off and not listen to the speech.

It had nothing at all to do with him having been unable to look away from Maria in her lovely dress. Not a thing like that. No. He had a girlfriend, thank you very much, who just…couldn't happen to attend the dinner, her father was ill and she was tending to him and…well, it was unbefitting Maria to just turn her back on a speech to gossip with her friends…even if the sight of her leaving was a rather…nice view…

He shook his head, glaring at the woman on the monitor, "You were the one that told them it was poisoned!"

The woman smirked and clapped, "Well done, you've figured me out. Though," she sighed, seeming almost disappointed, "Not as much as you should have," she tsked, "I expected so much more."

"Who ARE you?" he demanded.

Her smirk grew deadly, "The last face you'll ever see," he tensed as he heard latches clicking, signaling doors opening, "Seems we have a few visitors."

Arthur turned around to see two doors on either side of the room opening…two very vicious looking dogs, half starved, half feral, advancing, growling and fixated on him.

"Camelot isn't the only one that can train dogs."

Arthur shook his head, only vaguely thinking he should retaliate that they don't beat or starve or drive the dogs to this point at Camelot, but a larger part of him was telling him he needed to run and NOW.

He heard the woman cackling as he ran, could hear her shouting, "Run as fast as you can, Arthur Pendragon, it won't save you!' over the barking of the dogs.

He only just managed to reach the door before it slammed shut to undoubtedly lock him inside, shoving it open and escaping to the hallway, the dogs on his tail…

~8~

"Foolish boy!" Gus snapped as he got a message from Morgan and Gwen on his little flip phone.

"What?" Merlin and Maria asked at the same time, looking over from where they'd both curled up on the same bed, feeling more comfortable and safe being closer together than in separate beds. They'd lived in such a small flat growing up that they were used to sharing a bed, it brought them a sense of security when they were upset or hurt.

"They received a summons at the labs," Gus rubbed his head, "Arthur's gone to meet someone for the cure in Baldor Warehouse. Alone."

They closed their eyes at that, "Stupid…prat…" Maria wheezed as Merlin nodded in agreement.

"Uncle…" Merlin looked at the man, weary and worn, "We need...the laptop," he pointed weakly at the one resting next to Gus.

He'd brought them one thinking it would help keep their mind off the poison for the next few days while others worked on a cure, but when he'd been informed by the Doctors that the poison was accelerated, it felt useless to him.

"Why?" Gus frowned, though he got up and brought it over to them, wheeling an eating tray to them for balance.

"If it's…'Kara,'" Maria explained, "If it's…a hacker…"

"They'll send him…somewhere they control," Merlin finished, feeling like all his energy was sapped just from speaking.

"If they can control it…"

"We can too."

Gus moved behind them, helping them sit up, moving the bed to rise more so they could have easier access to the computer and watched in amazement as they both worked together to hack into the remnants of Baldor Warehouse's power systems and control systems.

"Oh come on," Maria nearly cried as they managed to block out 'Kara' and get control of the warehouse, hacking into the security systems, getting a staticy live feed of the hallways, only to see Arthur running down them…chased by two rabid dogs.

"It's too dark," Merlin frowned, hitting a few keys and turning the lights on in the warehouse, allowing Arthur to see where he was going.

"He doesn't know where to go," Gus realized, seeing him taking random turns and not actually trying to work out an escape.

Maria leaned forward with effort, managing to get into one of the monitors, "Right…"

Gus blinked as a monitor just ahead of Arthur turned on 'Right' written across it.

Arthur seemed to hesitate, not trusting the message.

'Go right, you prat!'

"Merlin!" Gus chastised the last message, but it got through to Arthur and he turned right.

'Faster!' Maria typed, a monitor appearing to flicker on with an arrow to the left, sending Arthur that way.

'Follow the lights,' Merlin added, lighting up a hallway for Arthur to go down.

'Climb!' Maria hit a button and a door opened at the end of it, revealing a staircase behind it, all the monitors showing 'Climb' at each level Arthur reached even as the dogs kept up, only stopping when they unlocked the door to the main level for him to run through.

'Duck, roll,' Merlin typed in a command and what looked like a large dividing door started to lower from the ceiling, intent to separate the stair hall from the main building.

Arthur dove for it just as it reached two feet above the ground and rolled under it, the door closing just as the dogs reached it, sealing Arthur from them.

'Go!' Maria typed one final command, and the main door to the warehouse unlocked, Arthur rushing out of it as they collapsed back on the bed in relief, exhausted…

~8~

Arthur ran into the hospital room that held Merlin and Maria to see Gwen and Morgan within, both women looking completely drained, tears in their eyes as Gus stood at the bedside of his niece and nephew, stoic.

It only took one glance at the beds to tell him why, why the two women were allowed in the room even though it was meant to be just family while the two patients were awake…they weren't awake anymore. The doctors had assured them that the medications and IVs would help slow the poison, keep the two alert till they reached a point where the poison began to take hold…and it seemed it had.

They were both unconscious on Merlin's bed as he burst in, "I've got it!" he called, holding out the vial to Gus.

The man quickly took it and opened it, cautiously sniffing it…before tasting a drop of it, much to their confusion, "It's the cure," he agreed, it had a very distinct taste, the Mortaeus leaf, and this was certainly created from it, "We must hurry," he moved over to the beds, Morgan rushing to Merlin's side to help while Arthur took Maria's, Gwen subtly hiding the laptop she'd been hiding behind her into her large bag so Arthur and Morgan wouldn't notice it was there.

Morgan and Arthur wouldn't know, but SHE did, that Gus had a bit of hacking talent as well, just like his family it seemed. He'd hacked into the hospital systems and changed the orders from 'family only' to 'visitors accepted' for the room, which was why she and Morgan were really there. He'd explained it to her quietly when Morgan had gone to check on Merlin and Maria.

"Hold his nose," Gus called, closer to Merlin than Maria. Morgan quickly did so, holding Merlin's head back as well, his mouth open so Gus could pour half the vial into his mouth.

Arthur looked down as he felt Maria grow lax in his hold, having taken her hand when he reached her side, "Gus! Quickly!" he opened Maria's mouth and pinched her nose as Gus leaned across and poured the rest of the vial down her throat, backing away to watch the two of them with baited breath…

Gwen gasped as she looked over at the monitors, the unsteady beating of their hearts both growing flat, "No!"

"What's happening?" Arthur demanded, looking around, knowing that Gus would have administered the antidote in the way it was intended, he was a certified Doctor, these were his patients, even if they were in hospital, he would know how to administer it without needing to wait for other doctors to get there.

"Gus?" Morgan looked at him, her voice trembling.

"They can't be," Gus breathed, staring at his family with tears in his eyes, "They're…they're gone…" he turned, rushing to the doors, "Doctors!" he shouted, "Flatline!" he called, knowing they would need specialized equipment not in the room to help stand a chance of bringing them back.

"It's my fault," Arthur muttered, swallowing hard as he stepped away from the two of them, "If I'd gotten here sooner, been quicker…" he stepped over to Morgan's side, hugging her to him as she started to cry, feeling tears prickling his own eyes as Gus did the same for Gwen, pulling her out of the way as doctors rushed in, moving to check on the pateints.

"I should have looked after them better," Gus tried not to cry, "Hannah, forgive me," he murmured his sister's name, not even wanting to think about her reaction to this...

When there was a sudden beep.

"Stop pokin' me," Merlin muttered as he slowly came around to see the doctors leaning over him.

"Merlin," Gus gasped.

"You're alive!" Gwen cried.

"I'mma ghost," Merlin gave a tired grin…only for Morgan to rush forward and kiss him, making his eyes widen when she pulled away.

"Sorry," Morgan blinked, looking completely surprised and horrified she'd done that, "I just… I thought you were dead."

"I think you stopped my heart," Merlin slipped out, wincing as he realized he'd said that out loud though the happy grin that came over Morgan's face spoke volumes.

"Miss Emrys!" a shout came from beside Merlin as he looked over to see his sister being pulled away from his side, towards the Doctors as they tried to get her to respond, her own monitor remaining as a flatline, "I need the pads!" the man called.

"What's going on?" Merlin's heart literally did stop as he felt himself being pulled out of the bed by another Doctor, his sister being laid down on her back as a cart was wheeled over. In all the confusion and shouting he hadn't heard the monitor flatlining, he'd just thought if he woke Maria would too…but she hadn't, "Mia!" he struggled in the doctor's hold but was too weak to really do much, "No!"

"She drank the poison first," Morgan realized, horrified.

"Maybe it just…just takes a little longer?" Gwen looked around, hopeful yet frightened.

"Mia…" Merlin nearly fell to his knees as he saw the doctors placing the pads on her body, Gus managing to catch him and hold him.

"Clear!" the doctor shouted, and Maria's body jerked up off the bed for an instant, but there was no change.

"Come Mia," Merlin muttered, praying, "Come on…you can't leave me. You promised, always together the two of us, come on…"

"Clear!" the doctor shouted again, and Maria jerked once more…

And then there was a beep, the most glorious sound in the world to those in the room, the heart monitor restarting.

Maria coughed and turned, her body shuddering as she tried to get something out of her, a nurse rushing forward with a pan for her to vomit into as she got her breath back, the doctors checking on her once more before they laid her back down.

"Mia," Merlin hurried to his sister's side, taking her hand and kissing the back of it, "You came back."

She smiled at him weakly, looking around the room till she spotted Arthur, "Arthur?"

"Yes?" he stepped forward, not sure what to do, not thinking it proper to take her hand now that everyone was looking.

"Your mother's beautiful."

Arthur blinked at that, "What?"

"Same hair," she murmured, seeming to start to fall asleep even as she was speaking, "Same eyes, same…same smile…"

Arthur let out a breath, swallowing hard, before he shook his head and walked out of the room.

~8~

Three days after the horrifying incident involving the poison, Arthur stood in his father's office at Pendragon Security, looking out the large windows at the town below, knowing that, somewhere out there, Bayard Corp were heading back to their town and company with apologies from Camelot. His father was sitting at his desk, sorting papers, while Morgan lounged in a chair before the desk.

"So how DID you manage it?" Morgan smirked just a little, seeing Arthur wince at that.

It had NOT taken long for his father to find out what he had done, especially not after Gus had presented him with the situation and the poison, how his niece and nephew had been cured, and a woman name 'Kara's' involvement in it all.

Needless to say, despite being an adult and head of the company…he was going to be under watch for quite some time, essentially grounded.

He knew Morgan was doing it not just to try and get more information out of him, he'd been rather tight lipped about what he'd encountered in the warehouse, but because she thought his father needed to know too. Really though, it wasn't necessary, and it wasn't helpful. All it did was remind him of why he'd been there, how Maria (and Merlin) were dying, how it was his fault for not believing them, not taking more of a stand about the poison. Even his girlfriend had tried to reassure him, make him feel better, when she found out about it all, but it hadn't worked.

Just thinking about how close he'd come to losing Mar…the two of them, it was affecting him in such an extreme way and he didn't know why.

"I don't honestly know," he murmured, "I didn't do much but run. Someone else," he shook his head, being careful with his words so his father wouldn't know it was a hacker instead of physical help, "Someone else knew I was in trouble and helped get me out."

"Who?"

"I don't know," he repeated, "Whoever it was, I'm only here because of them. Those dogs…" he shuddered, "They would have torn me limb from limb."

"I'm glad you made it," Morgan got up, moving over to put a hand on his arm in comfort, not just glad he was alive and back but also that he'd succeeded. She gave him a smile and turned to go, most likely to check in on Merlin and Maria. Gus wanted to keep an eye on them, but couldn't take the time off work so they'd come with him and were to stay in the Company's infirmary while he went about his business.

"Arthur?" he stiffened hearing his father speak before he caught sight of the man moving to stand beside him out of the corner of his eye, "The woman in the warehouse, the one that lured you there…what did she tell you?"

"Between her trying to taunt me and kill me?" he shook his head, "Not much."

"You must have been frightened," his father remarked, speaking both of the poisoned assistants fighting for their lives and the deadly game to get them their cure.

"It had its moments," Arthur shrugged.

"There is something you must understand Arthur," he began, "Our company strives to create peace and security, protection and maintain order. There are those out there that would love nothing more than to see us crumble, to see security breached and chaos reigning. That is why the woman wanted you trapped, why she tried to kill you. She knew, if she harmed you, she would break me, break out company and our future keeping others safe."

"Sounds as if you know her personally," Arthur mused, hearing something more in his father's voice than just an age old lesson.

"I do," he sighed, "All hackers are the same, they steal, they lie, they cause chaos. You did the right thing even if you didn't trust me to let you," the silence between them, how Arthur didn't defend his father and say that he did trust him spoke volumes, because it was true, had his father known he would have done everything to stop him, "Your assistants are very lucky. They must have had someone watching over them for you while you were seeking the cure."

Arthur nodded, adding, "I think it was mother," after a moment.

His father stilled at that, "What?"

Arthur swallowed hard, "When Mari woke up, she said mother was beautiful, and that I had her hair, eyes and smile."

"You do."

"How would she know that?" Arthur looked at him, "When you were building this company, you were careful to keep mother out of the spotlight. There are no photos of her anywhere but our house. I think mother saved them, I think she was protecting them."

His father was silent as Arthur turned and walked out of the office, leaving the man to his thoughts on his late wife. The woman was caring, considerate, always wanted to help and keep people safe. It did make sense, in a way, that she would watch over the two assistants. It was one of the reasons he had built this company up as he had, made it their goal to provide security and protection, because of his wife. Because she always wanted to help and wanted people safe, and because he'd failed to keep her safe as well.

Those two, that Merlin and Maria, they were good people, even he could admit that, they were the sort that his wife would have adored even if HE had a more resolute and harsher outlook of people around him. Not everyone could be trusted and not everyone was who they appeared to be, he had learned that the hard way.

~8~

"I take it back, THIS makes me feel ridiculous," Maria mumbled as she chewed through her meal, some sort of odd mush her uncle had made them for lunch, not wanting them to upset their stomachs just yet.

While Merlin had seemed to recover well the last few days, SHE was still a bit weak, so much so she could hardly lift a spoon to her mouth…which resulted in her brother trying to feed her and making (what he thought were) hilarious sounds and movements as though she were a baby that needed train noises to eat her food.

It was just embarrassing to need to be fed like a toddler and she knew Merlin would never let her live it down.

"Better ridiculous than dead," a voice said behind her and she froze knowing it was Arthur.

"I agree," Merlin nodded, holding up another spoonful for her to take, enjoying her deadly glare as he kept going, but he looked up at Arthur with a smile, "We have you to thank for that. So thanks."

"It was nothing," Arthur waved it off, "Half-decent assistants are hard to come by. I was only dropping by to see if you were alright to get back to work tomorrow…"

"Oh yes, of course," Maria rolled her eyes, "I'm sure I won't be lifting _anything_ heavier than a _spoon_."

Arthur chuckled at that, "Good," he went along with it even though he knew she was being sarcastic, "But I was speaking to Merlin," he looked at the boy, knowing he was stronger than Maria at the moment, which honestly wasn't saying much, "Before I get in tomorrow, I need you to replace the ink in my printer, clean the training weapons, dust the office, straighten up the employee room, and get my jacket mended from the dinner…"

Merlin sighed but nodded, starting to get up, only to run to Maria's side and catch her as she tried to get up too and nearly stumbled and fell, "What are you doing, Mia?"

"If you're supposed to do all that, you'll never get it done by morning without help," she stated, "So I'll help."

"Oh yeah, how?" he raised an eyebrow, "You can barely stand and ALL of that is heavier than a spoon."

"I'll find a way," she insisted.

"It…" Arthur began, speaking before Merlin could, speaking before he even seemed to realize he was doing it, "It can wait a few more days," he shrugged, "Just…take care of your sister," he pointed at Merlin, "I do want you both back by the start of next week though."

Merlin nodded, his eyes wide, "Yeah, yeah of course, that should be plenty of time…"

Arthur gave a brisk nod before turning to head away.

"Arthur?" Maria called as Merlin helped her sit back down, "Thank you," she offered genuinely, no sarcasm detected.

Arthur smiled, "You too, get some rest."

"He may give you both grief at times," Gus remarked from the corner of the room where he was taking inventory of bandages and gauze, "But his heart is in the right place, he's a man of honor. Not many, if any, men would risk their lives just for an assistant."

"I still don't understand why this Nimueh bird tried to frame Bayard Corp," Maria shook her head. She and Merlin had gone back and managed to trace the original hack of the warehouse back to the same person that released the virus in Camelot, Nimueh…and, given Arthur's description of the woman in the warehouse, it was 'Kara' too, it was the same woman.

"If she really wanted to kill Arthur, she just had to stand there and watch," Merlin agreed, "He would have drank the poison along with all the other Camelot employees, and even Bayard Corp too if we hadn't warned them."

"If it was some sort of takeover, it would have been better to keep silent," Maria nodded.

Gus looked at them with a deep frown on his face, "You don't see it, do you?" they frowned at him, "It was never about Arthur or Camelot, or Bayard corp…it was about YOU. She knew if she told you, you'd make a spectacle and be forced to drink it instead. It was YOU she wanted to kill, the both of you. It seems she wasn't very happy when you stopped her virus."

Merlin and Maria looked at each other at the implication that 'Nimueh' knew the 'Wizard and the Witch' were them.

If she knew…then she had to have proof, and it would only be a matter of time before she used it to out them to everyone.

A/N: I'm sorry this chapter wasn't up last week like it was meant to be :( A few people called out at my work and I had to fill in which cut into my time editing it. By the time I finished, it was Sunday and I thought it might be better to wait 3 days to post instead of posting the chapter 4 days late.

For this chapter, I wanted Marayna to be a little different from her last self, she's had a different life in a different world than she did in the original series. She wouldn't be able to sense things the way she used to with magic involved, so she's no more wary of 'Kara' than anyone else would be of a normal assistant. She may grow to be more naturally suspicious as time goes on, but without magic, she's at a little more of a disadvantage.

I can say there's more going on than just hacking and some reasons why certain hackers are targeting Camelot are very deeply personal for them which we'll see about very soon. Let's just say, Camelot really had a dark history at one point in time and a lot of people suffered for it }:)

Some notes on reviews...

For this story, and most of the spin-offs, I write a chapter and then post it, so it's one by one instead of prewriting the entire thing :) I want to try and get a few chapters ahead, but I don't see myself prewriting the entire story for this one ;)

Yup, Morgan's little hint was how Maria's dress got to her flat ;)

I can't say if they'll get their memories back or not, in a full sense of remembering everything, we'll have to wait and see about that. Though I can say a near-death experience might trigger some rather...odd dreams ;)

I'm really glad you're enjoying the stories so far and that they brighten up your day a little, that really means a lot to me :') I hope it never comes to needing financial help, but I'm very touched that you feel I might get some donations if it ever came to it though, it makes me feel cared about :)

Hacking will have something to do with it, it'll be more the threat it poses to Camelot's secrets, only hackers would be able to really dig up the very bad dirt in Camelot's past and that terrifies Uther so he wants to keep any and all hackers away. But there'll be more coming that will explain this story's version of 'the Purge' and how the paranoia Uther held for magic will translate here ;) So likely no actual magic, but there will be some things Uther will be vehement about prosecuting and dealing with swiftly and without mercy }:)

I can say there is something unique about Killian ;) He does seem to know more than he's letting on, but whether it's memories we'll have to wait and see ;)

We'll definitely see more of Maria at the museum yup ;) Thank you for pointing that out though, I went back and fixed it :) We'll have to wait and see how Morgause plays into this, but she's definitely going to be gunning for Uther and Camelot for a few reasons ;)


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